Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: Tagging question  (Read 1666 times)

waterhouse

  • Guest
Tagging question
« on: September 12, 2010, 05:08:50 pm »
I have got six 2010 mules which I bought from a local sheep farmer to turn into meat so that we could get some experience at handling them before we decide on a breed with which to work.  Another topic, another time.

The sheep arrived double tagged because we could not be sure that all of them would have departed within the year - their primary job is pasture management, meat being secondary (and wool being nowhere!).  The tag numbers were 000001-6 being the first our farmer friend had applied (and he has many hundreds of sheep).

Immediately our woolly chaps commenced spreading their expensive EIDs around the place, so that of the original 12 only 7 remain, with 4 EID's and one conventional having vanished.  As an aside we needed the vet to treat one lamb whose ear had a 2" tear: she cut two more out before they did more damage.

We unfortunately have two CPH numbers because the RPA are totally useless.  That means that to open the gate into the adjacent field requires an AML1 movement document to be sent off and means that all of them now need double tagging again (I think)

All the guidance notes I have read give different rules depending on whether the sheep are slaughter (within 12m) or breeding stock.  I'm confident that three of four will have gone to slaughter before the year is up, but not so sure about the others.  But it seems that the four sheep with any missing tags need to have all remaining tags removed and double red tags applied instead.  Is this right?

I went to the Exeter sheep auctions last week (to have a look at the Dartmoors).  None of the people I spoke to had any current experience of the EID tags.  All I can say is that mules with big ears don't get on with Ritchie wrap round EID tags.  SO I'm probably getting buttons this time. 

Views and advice welcomed.


Anke

  • Joined Dec 2009
  • St Boswells, Scottish Borders
Re: Tagging question
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2010, 09:56:31 pm »
If you still have the original number (or one tag is still in) you have to replace with the original tag, red tags is only for animals you don't know the flock and/or individual number. I don't know if red tags are now EID too, didn't have to replace any of mine yet (I have not bought in any lambs yet and my own are not yet 6 months, so not yet tagged). I would try and red-tag the breeding stock (if you don't have all the numbers anymore), and give the fat stock the numbers they came with, makes it easier at the market/abattoir.

If you own two fields I cannot understand why you would have two CPH numbers, but it may be a blessing in disguise! You can juggle your standstill quite easily if you have two numbers to send in! (We have 13 days standstill here in SCotland, and moving the sheep between my fields (the rented one has a different CPH) has been a godsend this summer, otherwise I could not have been able to take my goats to some of the shows I wanted to!

My goat kids still have their EID Shearwell tags in, although as they insist on putting their heads through the netting to get at (exactly the same) clover on the other side of the fence I am not sure how much longer they will remian inside. One seems to be a bit infected and weeping... My sheep will have the same tags in about amonths time...

 

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