[Fronhaul]

I would be very interested in peoples experiences of bolus ID please. 

As some of you know I breed BWMs and the majority of show quality animals are black tagged and bolus for identification.  To date I have been too much of a coward to contemplate this route although I have found some dark purple tags that look a little less Christmas tree like for the second tag.

What are the risks in using boluses?  Do I ask the vet to give me a training session?  Presumably I need access to a reader in case the ear tag is lost? 

This probably all sounds daft but I am not really sure where to start and google is not on this occasion helping me very much.

[Dougal]

They can pass the bolus occasinally and i suspect you would need a reader. Not sure how it works for young stock? The vet would probably do the bolusing for you but of is anything like the bolus's available for mineral drenching then it is very similar to dosing your sheep.
 

[Mallows Flock]

I was talking to Mole Valley farmers ear tag helpline only yesterday and they said the whole bolus route for sheep is highly unpopular. They still have to have tags, as you already suggest, so it doesn;t safeguard against lost tags, ear ripping etc and is an expensive method apparently.