Jiglu: Farmtalking: Discussion: Re: Latest earmarking/movement news affecting goats.

Originally from: Christine Ball

You would not believe the battle goatkeepers have been having to get to this compromise Mary. It was looking like we would be expected to tattoo TWO lines in the left ear to get all the info in and some of us with breeds that have small ears just knew we did not have space. Also two lines would be bound to hit blood vessels. We tattoo the right ear anyway and have done for years to register our goats with the BGS. Most goatkeepers do not like tags as goats tend to pull them out and tear their ears. The BGS Scottish rep managed to find sensible people to speak to at Seerad who worked out the arrangement below, and Defra have followed suit and agreed to our requests. I fail to see how not complying would benefit us as we need to be able to sell and transport our goats for various reasons which we could not do without the appropriate earmarks. Christine Ball.

Author wrote:
Eartagging....How quick the British are to collude in their own destruction
out of a depressingly misplaced confidence in the "authorities". But what
is even more depressing is that it's the animals who suffer first.
Take a step back and just think about what DEFRA sound like with their
utterly obnoxious rules and regulations.....
DEFRA and SEERAD have agreed that the following is acceptable:
One ear: the six digit Herd Number e.g.123456
Other ear: A modified registration earmark, with the numbers first, will be
accepted as the goats' individual number, the presence of letters after the
number is permitted. E.g. instead of a BGS earmark of ABC10R, you must put
10ABCR. 10 will then be the official individual number of that goat. An
individual number is needed for showing, selling on twice, export, breeding
movements' etc. This system avoids the need to put two rows of tattooed
digits in a kid's ear.
However, if you are taking a bought-in goat to a show, which is legally not
tattooed with the breeder's Herd Number (because of its age), it should be
marked with an "S", followed by your Herd Number, followed (if the other ear
is already tattooed with, say a BGS earmark with letters in front) by an
individual number. This would involve two tattooing operations, or a tag.
Heil Defra......
Mary at warmwell
----- Original Message -----
From: <a href="mailto:<...>"><...></a>;
To: <a href="mailto:<...>"><...></a>;
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 11:28 AM
Subject: [farmtalking] Latest earmarking/movement news affecting goats.
The following news has been received from Ruth Goodwin of the British Goat
Society and affects ALL goats which must be earmarked according to the rules
below.
If anybody needs help or more info please contact me on
<a href="...">...</a>
Cheers,
Christine Ball.
AGRI-NEWS STOP PRESS – SOME GOOD NEWS AT LAST
DEFRA's early summer review of the interim animal movements regime proposes
that (assuming no further cases of FMD) goats, and sheep, can go to shows
from 15th May 2002. Also, that there will be exemption from the 20-day
standstill for individually identified breeding goats of either sex.
Earmarking update: DEFRA and SEERAD have agreed that the following is
acceptable:
One ear: the six digit Herd Number e.g.123456
Other ear: A modified registration earmark, with the numbers first, will be
accepted as the goats' individual number, the presence of letters after the
number is permitted. E.g. instead of a BGS earmark of ABC10R, you must put
10ABCR. 10 will then be the official individual number of that goat. An
individual number is needed for showing, selling on twice, export, breeding
movements' etc. This system avoids the need to put two rows of tattooed
digits in a kid's ear.
However, if you are taking a bought-in goat to a show, which is legally not
tattooed with the breeder's Herd Number (because of its age), it should be
marked with an "S", followed by your Herd Number, followed (if the other ear
is already tattooed with, say a BGS earmark with letters in front) by an
individual number. This would involve two tattooing operations, or a tag.
--
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