[Mrs Snoodles]

I've been looking at the diagram that the BPA have for notching - the one where it is an over pig head illustration showing, 1000's on the left ear, 100 and 10's on the right.  So I have my herd Mark and I can notch this out nicely, but where do I put the litter number?
Cheers all

[Berkshire Boy]

You don't put your herd mark on the notches are for the individual litter number. You still tag for the herd number.

[Mrs Snoodles]

   So if I was showing and tags are not allowed, how can my particular pig be identified? .... Or is the individual herd number a new number that comes through from the BPa once you've notified?   Not been this far before.
I thought I was doing herd, then litter. A good job I asked   

[HappyHippy]

Just the piglet number 
Start with the boars and do them 1,2,3 etc then move on to the girls.
It's double tagging that's not permitted for shows Mrs S (Though hopefully the BPA will sort that rule out soon, cos it's just not fair on those who don't want to notch/tattoo IMHO)

So you'll have a tag printed with the pigs individual number (to correspond with the notch) and your herd mark in one ear and your notches on the other. You'll eventually end up with notches on both ears (once you get to piglet number 100)

And I would also strongly recommend tagging at the same time - I had the bright idea that it would be easy to identify them from their notches and get tags in at a later stage  It would have been easier just to do both at the same time  I did mine at a fortnight old (when they were really easy to hold  )

Good luck and let us know how you get on 

[Mrs Snoodles]

many thanks HH.  Are those silver tags permitted in the ring? (or do they prefer those bright coloured ones?) Also...they can come out can't they, so what happens then?  Also.....for my piglets, I could notch them now couldn't I? and then tag as and when needed ie: for slaughter, and when going into the ring?  But I guess that would be against BPA Pedigree rules 
Just wished I had had the bottle a few weeks ago.  They are feisty fast little blighters now.

[hughesy]

There's only a need to notch piglets that are going to be good enough for showing and/or breeding. No point for meat pigs they'll just need a slaughter tag when the time comes.

[Berkshire Boy]

I have about 160 piglets a year but I only notch about 10. As Hughesy says no need to notch anything that is not good enought to breed from or show. It also means you can pick the litter number with the least amount of notches if your only notching say 1 or 2 from that litter.

[kja]

we tattoo the whole litter at the same time we check underlines. by doing the whole litter even the ones going for meat can then be seen to be pedigree pigs which we have found buyers like. and should anyone want to keep a pig that i had no intention of showing/breeding from but is registable the pig is already marked up as per the birth notification. and besides that its in our breed rules that the whole litter is marked up ........and i am a goodie two shoes 

[hughesy]

Don't forget that you can print off pedigree pork certificates from the BPA when you kill off birth notified porkers which a lot of people like to see.

[Mr Pig]

Back to BB's point, a pig is NOT birth notified if it's not permanently ear marked even if a form has been filled in so you should ear mark ALL pigs listed on the birth note, that way if you use the meat certificate, there is correalation between the carcase with its notches or tattoos and the certificate.
 
Mrs Snoodles - contact your BPA Breed Rep and get clarification on what you should be doing - that's what they're there for!

[Hassle]

I have about 160 piglets a year but I only notch about 10. As Hughesy says no need to notch anything that is not good enought to breed from or show. It also means you can pick the litter number with the least amount of notches if your only notching say 1 or 2 from that litter.

that's the reason why i go with a plastic ear tag and a tattoo .. yea yea i know can lose the tag and the tattoo can fade but by then i can recognise that pig so i can replace the ear tag annually on inspection

[Berkshire Boy]

You can only tattoo certain breeds.

[Hassle]

Agreed