[Ladygrey]

Thanks shygirl, yes they are so so lovely  I love the shape of them

Unfortunately yes they have to be metal, one in each ear, I have sent pigs before with plastic buttons in but ended up with a pig with lots of tags due to it having to have metal in aswel as the plastic

They say its because the plastic ones melt, its a relatively new abattoir so maybe they use a hotter machine? I dunno....

Yes I have used plastic zee ones and they do nicely for my breeding piggies (when I had them)

[Bionic]

It seems that no 2 abattoirs are the same. My pigs go off with just tattoo marks, one on ech shoulder, and the abattoir is happy with that.

[wayfarer]

Which abattoir do you use.  We use Laverstoke which I think is near you and only had to slapmark them.  I did this whilst they were eating a couple of days before taking them.

[Ladygrey]

Which abattoir do you use.  We use Laverstoke which I think is near you and only had to slapmark them.  I did this whilst they were eating a couple of days before taking them.

I also use laverstoke (or J.BroomHall) It either has to be a slapmark or double tags, I have it from an email from them

I have a big box of tags and a tagger, I dont have a slap marker or the marking fluid stuff and I havn't slap marked before, one day when my tags run out maybe I will ask someone to show me, I suppose I dont want to do it wrong somehow and being told by them before that the plastic tags dont count and they want double metal instead I have stuck to them.

Maybe one day if they all start getting ripped out or something I will have to invest in a slap marker and learn how! so far the tags have done me fine and I never knew that I was doing them all wrong

[wayfarer]

Thanks for confirming that Laverstoke does accept slapmarks - I was worried that I too would have to tackle two large pigs to get ear tags in later this year.  Your piggies look really nice and saddlebacks are a lovely breed.

[County Dangler]

We are nearing the end of our first experience with our 4 saddlebacks and they have been a joy. They are tame enough to let you touch them whilst they are feeding but are certainly not pets. With all of the wrestling they do I wouldn't have thought tags would have lasted very long with ours! Good luck with them.

[Tamsaddle]

When we had pigs up to last year, we used Laverstoke all the time, just with slapmarks.   If you are going to keep pigs for several seasons or more, I definitely think it is worth investing in a slap marker as it is so easy to do and you can just do it the day before they go.   I reckon with metal tags Laverstoke require the two as they routinely slice the pig down the middle, so each half is then separately identifiable.   On one awful occasion I got a couple of pigs up there, and realised when I arrived that I had completely forgotten to slap them at all so they had no form of ID whatsoever, but the lovely Polish blokes up there made an exception for that one occasion, rather than making me go all the way home, an hour's drive each way, to get them slapped.   


Your piggies look fantastic and very happy - we used to keep Saddlebacks too, and like Kelly I am missing them like mad, a huge void in my life.   But it had to be, so instead I follow what all of you are doing on TAS instead, and just love seeing such gorgeous pics.       

[waterbuffalofarmer]

They look very good. I hope all goes well. We have just gotten rid of the last of our large black pigs, so am a bit sad about that. Anyway i hope all goes well and good luck.