[princesspiggy]

wev tagged our kids now with EID button tags (as thats what their parents had). the little billy finds them too heavy to hold his ears up. hes a good 8 wks now. did i choose the right ones?
also he pulled one tag out and ripped sliced his ear right through. this puts his show career right out of the window. is it possible to stitch it so we can show him? its already healing up now.  we never had this problem with the smaller tags we used to use.
 

[little blue]

we used the small, rectangular ones from Fearings, after much deliberation.
The kids have brown ears with whitish stripes down (toggenburgs ears!) so we went for the white (cream) tags with black writing, so they aren't too obvious.

As EID is not yet law for goats, I didnt see the point in having them for our few.

Geraldine, "Mum" goat has a huge tear in one ear, where she caught and ripped out a tag when she was little.  We have a replacement tag for her, but to be honest its still in the packet - there's no guarantee it wont just slip out the hole, is there?!

I imagine stitching will help your boy's ear heal, if a neat job is done.  With a wriggly goat kid this could be a challenge!  Would your vet be prepared to sedate him for what is essentialy a cosmetic procedure?
Or you could use steri - strips?

How big are they now?  any up-to-date photos?!

[Anke]

I use Shearwell's SET tags, EID version for both goats and sheep. Have so far not had any ripped out! Youngest my kids have had one tag in is at 11 weeks, and I only tagged one ear as was taking them to a show. Sheep don't get tagged until 6 months old (but shetlands are still not very large even then).

Not sure if  a sliced ear would count against him, I have seen quite a few goats with bad scurrs on their heads, both male and female and it doesn't seem to count against them - Beth will know!

[princesspiggy]

well its healed really (so they would have to cut it again to stitch it i imagine?) but so disappointed we couldnt show him cos hes soo tame and adores everyone. he got the tag caught in the chicken wire as they share the orchard with the chooks. reconsidering the wisdom now of putting them near chicken wire as his mother has done the same thing.
will take fotos soon. my daughter has "taught" him to dance on his back legs and weave between her legs, all for a blade of grass. the nannies are great, can catch them everytime with a bucket, which is handy cos they are expert at escaping. they are learning to walk on a lead too now, tho not as pro as the kids. but it lets us take them out for a nibble. bagots are not as wild as i imagined at all but they are a bit spoilt now!! one mention of selling the wether and i was firmly reminded he is part of the family...
 

maybe i tagged them too young? hes 8 weeks. the older kid is 4 mths and is ok, but the little chap cant hold his little ear up with the weight of the tag. shame

[tizaala]

eid tags are not required as the goat population is below 100,000 for the whole country it is unlikely to excede this figure for some years yet.

[ballingall]

A rip in his ear doesn't mean you can't show him, and he shouldn't be penalised for it. The only thing you may find is that if the judge was happy with your goat and another one, and he felt they were exactly equal, he could use the rip to say to put yours down to second for example. However, the odds of that happening are extremely low.

EID tags are not essential for goats, as there is an exemption certificate. They do weigh a little more, which is why we don't use them.

Beth

[jaykay]

I'm not EIDing my goats, though the lambs cope well with the Rototags we put in last year. I use Rototags for the other one too, have found they stay in well and don't catch or tear.

[princesspiggy]

i bought the same tags for the goats and sheep, and there is not much difference in size between a boreray and a bagot really. 

[Anke]

The size of non EID and EID tags is exactly the same for SET tags. With  quite a few sheep to tag it seemed a bit over the top to order a different batch of non EID ones. They defintely do not make their ears droop.

[princesspiggy]

Hes 2 mths old, his right ear is the ripped one, where his tagged got pulled out on the fencing. his left ear is the droopy one. i think the tag may be upside down tho. maybe i shud remove it?
the nannies have the same size tags and the nanny kid, also tagged, (4 mths) is fine, tho she doesnt hold her ears completely upright.

[jaykay]

Those tags do look heavy! Can you remove it without hurting him?

[little blue]

he is very cute!

not seen a pure bagot with stripes on the face like him before.

 did both ears stick up before he was tagged? 
Our kids are of course Bagot crosses, with pointy-up ears ... I just wondered if it was like german shepherds and the ears started off floppy & stuck up after a few weeks! 

how much black is there on his bum?  if you want to show him, the breed standard says something like any dark patches below the shoulders should be "at a minimum"  (how helpful!!)

mind you, I bet he'll be the only Bagot at any show anyway, and I give him first prize 

[princesspiggy]

he was born with normal pointy ears. hes is so friendly, his markings arent great, his sister's are alot better, but his handler is only 4 so its all fun to them. we have booked a billy kid from odds farm and his markings are really good so im looking forward to seeing what we breed next year or year after.

[little blue]

sounds good!   will you keep this boy too?  he is lovely...

whens the show?    we will expect photos

[princesspiggy]

can u take a ripped ear in the ring? i was thinking his show career (however serious) was over. do they not need 2 forms of ID with only 1 ear left?, i know sheep do. we are hoping he will be a companion for the billy kid when he arrives in autumn. hes much quieter than the nannies, presumably cos hes a wether. he is gorgeous tho.