[wannabesmallholder]

Agh just made such a stupid newbie mistake and put the wrong tag in one of my wethers 

So the visual tag is correct but the EID one is wrong.

What do I do?!!!

[Sbom]

Cut out with foot trimmers and start again!

[shep53]

You could leave it and record its number as the eid one as this is the one that will be read upon sale or slaughter then just make sure the next lamb gets the odd pair left and again record it as the eid number .   You could cut out the non eid tag and put in the correct matching one to the eid tag ,then order a duplicate tag for the one cut out so you then have  a pair . IF you chose to cut out and throw away  a pair of tags then you must record this in your holding register as disposed /damaged

[wannabesmallholder]

Ok thank you. To cut out where do I cut? Am a bit worried about cutting his ear off!

[twizzel]

You need to cut between the ear and the tag (the bar that pierces the ear). I’d do that and record in flock book as I’m not sure whether you’d get away with having a sheep with non matching tags on the holding if inspected or if it went through an abattoir- they should match.

[shep53]

You just cut the pin in half  and this leaves the hole ready for the new tag

[shep53]

While mismatched tags are not perfect ,I think you would be surprised how often it happens iv'e bought a ram with mismatched tags .  The eid is the important one  with visual only as back up if the eid is lost . Had 2 inspections by trading standards and a full audit by scot gov which includes checking tags on 50 sheep  ,but only a visual do they have 2 tags each more focus on the holding register

[Penninehillbilly]

As wethers will they be going for slaughter under 12 months?
I believe under 12 months they only need one tag?

[Womble]

^ Yes, but that's only if they're wearing batch slaughter tags. If the tags were originally meant to be in a pair (i.e. breeding tags), they should technically be wearing one in each ear.

[gwynrew]

IF you chose to cut out and throw away  a pair of tags then you must record this in your holding register as disposed /damaged

Do you have to use (or account for) consecutively-numbered tags? If you spotted the mistake before you recorded anything, could you cut out the wrong tags straight away and bin them and just never use those tag numbers?

[shep53]

When you purchase tags these numbers go onto a gov database , if they then come to and do a full audit they have all theses tag numbers and they must all be accounted for in your holding register as in a sheep or destroyed plus the unused tags you have in stock

[pharnorth]

[member=9755]shep53[/member] is that in the regs and guidelines?  I can't recall anywhere where it says you need a 100% reconciliation on ear tag numbers?  I get the double tagging, the replacement tags/ recording or lost and replacement tags and use of red ones etc but simply don't recall seeing anything on making notes on tags not used.

[Penninehillbilly]

I wonder how they would account for mine then?
A cock up somewhere (Dalton who won't admit it? ) means I've jumped up over 129,000 goats. Ie someone somewhere put the first 3 numbers in the wrong bit.
Now I wonder where I've put 129,000 sheep / goats.

[shep53]

There is a section that is about replacement of lost or damaged identifiers . Not sure we are talking the same  tags in stock  ie a cupboard don't need to be recorded in the register until put into sheep  but in an audit you need to present them for inspection ( when I was told after 4hrs that a strip of 20 tags was un accounted for  it made me sweat until I found them )  . If you cut out a tag because it was wrong as in the post then you need to either  record it and its replacement number or buy an exact replica , same if you cut out because the ear was sore/swollen/infected and   you are supposed to do this in 28 days .    A tag that has been  kept in poor conditions and has then gone soft so that it will not pierce the ear , still has to be accounted for  (  if you put them in a freezer they will then go hard and should pierce the ear ).