[Harebell]

I want to tag my lambs (due in March/April) with just a temporary lamb ID tag when they are a day old so I know who's who and then a couple of months later decide which ones I want to keep and register with my breed society and re-tag them with bigger/better tags with all the breed society info on etc. Do other people do this? If so what kind of tags do you use?

Previously I've not had sheep that needed to be registered with a breed society, so these lambs got either just a generic yellow snap slaughter tag for boys or double Ritchey ID snap tag for girls.  I like the snap tags but they aren't really big enough to fit breed society numbers on...and the other type of tags like button of leaf tags are a bit too big and brutal for new born lambs.  My breed society doesn't recommend any particular type of tag, so just trying to work out what's the best system for me and looking for recommendations.  Any help welcome...I feel this is a really simple, obvious question but feeling stumped on it!

[Twotwo]

If your sheep are white(ish !) could you spray numbers on them ... I found with a little bit of touching up the numbers lasted till October when I then decided who to keep, any that went to slaughter before that where just tagged the night before.

[Harebell]

If your sheep are white(ish !) could you spray numbers on them ... I found with a little bit of touching up the numbers lasted till October when I then decided who to keep, any that went to slaughter before that where just tagged the night before.

I did try this last year but it wasn't totally successful, as the spray numbers rubbed off quicker on some lambs (they are Wilts horns and the lambs shed their fleece more than woolly lambs I think?). So I wanted to use tags and spray numbers as a back up in case any tags fell out.

[harmony]

How many sheep do you have? Tagging then retagging seems a bit unfair on the lambs tbh. Can you notch?

[shep53]

ROXAN ID do a small management tag for 12p and sell from 1 upwards , the pliers cost £5 , once the first tag is in it makes a hole so you just cut the tag and put a new one in the hole .  Ear notching works but above the number 5 you need multiple notches .

[Marches Farmer]

How many lambs?  You'll need together them twice for vaccination, for weaning and/or when the ewes are shorn - could you just respray the identification marks then?  I find Ritchey markers last better than some others. 

[Womble]

Hi Harebell,

I asked this question last year, and was likewise directed to Roxan tags (don't worry, you don't have to put on the red light  ). Order a sample pack from them, and you'll see which ones are suitable. The Easytag management tags look perfect to my eye, and I think we're going to try them this year.

Last year, I trialled a number of different sprays, and found Nettex Promark (note, not 'marksman') to be by far the most durable. On a white sheep, I'm pretty sure that the number would still be visible at tagging time if you re-applied the spray at vaccination. I can still make out hints of the red and blue Promark spray on our lambs' tails now, and that's after over 6 months have passed.

I hope that helps 

[silkwoodzwartbles]

What about spraying a number on the back of the neck if losing fleece is a problem? We spray my OH's sheep with numbers on their sides but last year one wily lamb ended up with a number on her back and it stayed right up until she went for slaughter at 6 months old where the rest had rubbed off by about 3 months old.

[epherdwicks]

I used Roxan's padlock management tags on my black (hence unsprayable with marker) Herdwick lambs last year.  So easy to fit (no pliers required) and later remove when it was time to put in proper tags.

[Womble]

Can the padlock tags be re-used the next year, @epherdwicks?

[shep53]

Yes you can reuse , I used them in the 80's to record 800 lambs but I had to put 1 in each ear as a lot of tags were lost , easily torn out

[Harebell]

Thanks everyone, I'll look at the padlock tags. I think I had read about them here some while ago and it prompted me to ask about temp lamb tags.

We are due 40-50 lambs, about half of which should be female and I could try temp tags on them. While I can respray at vaccination time...we don't shear (self shedding Wilts) and I naturally wean the lambs, they are only separated from ewes a few weeks before tupping.  So we don't generally round up the lambs as often as some and I therefore have less opportunity to respray.

Does anyone know if I could just write a number with a Sharpie pen (for my own reference) on the generic EID slaughter tags, which I have lying around anyway for boy lambs...or would a Sharpie marked tags be rejected at the abattoir? The ewe lambs I decided to keep could have this EID tag cut out in around September time and then retagged with appropriate double tag (reusing the hole from the generic EID tag)...if that all makes sense?

[Womble]

Yes you can reuse , I used them in the 80's to record 800 lambs but I had to put 1 in each ear as a lot of tags were lost , easily torn out

Hmmm, I'm not too keen on torn ears, so it would have to be the smallest easytags. However, if I'm going to do that, I might as well put in a single permanent tag (the Shearwell SET tags are small enough, and we've had very few issues with them). That way, there's only half the chance of losing them, and if any do pull out, I can just re-tag with a new number as long as it's before registration (at which point they'd get the other tag put in to match).

Any thoughts?

[shep53]

The abattoir wouldn't notice or care less since they would use an EID reader .  Not sure a sharpie would stay all summer , you could try putting numbers on a few tags now and put them out in the rain and rub them now and then ?

[shep53]

Have used set tags at birth no problem