The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: NewLifeOnTheFarm on August 11, 2018, 09:13:11 am
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Hi all, I have shearwell set tags and will be tagging lambs just before they go to abbatoir. Just out of interest, online and in instructions it says in older sheep it may be necessary to tag back of ears? I cannot visualise what this means?? Can anyone advise or provide a picture?
Thanks.
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The guidance is to tag the leading edge of the ear, facing front. In older sheep this edge may be quite thick and strong, and it may be uncomfortable or even impossible to get the tags to puncture them. In that case, you would apply the tags to the trailing edge, facing rear.
I suspect many of us tag in the trailing edge anyway, as tag loss is less this way ;). And it’s easier when you’re working through a batch in a race, too.
Sorry I don’t have a picture, hope ‘leading’ and ‘trailing’ edge are descriptive enough for you.
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Oh, and I would be very surprised if you struggled to get Shearwell tags to puncture the ears of this year’s lambs. So tag them wherever you prefer ;)
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Because I’m always happy to have an excuse to look through all my sheep photos :love: :sheep: :hugsheep:, I’ve dug out a few pics.
Skyhawk has his tags applied to the trailing edge of his ears, and snipped through, in order to reduce the likelihood of them tearing out.
Alice has hers with the loop intact, on the trailing edge.
Skyhawk’s older brother had his applied to the leading edge and not snipped through. You can maybe just see them in the third pic, Bumper is behind Skyhawk to the left. (Sorry the tag in his right ear is dark blue, not easy to see! And the yellow one in his left ear is lying a bit sideways. His were the only tags I didn't snip through, and this was the best pic I could find.)
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I prefer to tag the top of the ear, about 1/3 of the ear away from the head. Much neater and never had problems with sheep pulling the tags out. Some of my ewes have it on the trailing/back of ear, in fairness they haven't lost any of their tags either but it doesn't look as tidy. As your lambs are going to the abattoir... it doesn't really matter where you tag, as long as they have a tag in... seeing they will be on a hook sooner rather than later :innocent:
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Thank you for replies. All done now. No problems, although the only one I wasn't happy with was the wether we are keeping, didn't get his tags even so now he looks a bit special ????
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I hope the ones going to the abattoir in the next week or so that the ears have no time to get infected ( I dip all tags in lambing lube before putting in ) and I try to never tag in the summer so keep an eye on the wether you are keeping
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Will do. We dipped in iodine and sprayed after so hopefully be ok. Also temperature have dropped suddenly to a more Autumnal feel up here. So fingers crossed. Next year will do it before they leave lambing shed.
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:thumbsup: