Goats
Tattooing
Success Guide For Raising Healthy Goats
Proper tattooing as a means of permanent identification is used for dairy goats, and sometimes in combination with ear tags for meat and Angora goats.
Tattoo kits with goat-sized numbers and letters are available from any goat supply catalogue. Instructions come with the kit. Additional instructions may be obtained from registry associations.
All dairy breeds, except LaMancha, are tattooed in the ear. Since LaManchas have no external ears, they are tattooed in the tail web, the hairless area under the tail.
A common system for dairy goats is to tattoo the right ear with three letters designating the herd name. If you join the American Dairy Goat Association, three letters will be assigned to you. If your herd designation is XYZ, for example, all your kids will have "XYZ" tattooed in their right ears.
The left ear has a letter indicating the year of birth and a number indicating the kid's birth sequence. All kids born in 2004, for example, would have the letter T. The first kid born in your herd in that year would be "Tl," the second kid "T2," and so forth.
Not all breeds have such well-organized tattooing systems, nor do they all tattoo both ears.
Angora herd owners, for instance, make up their own herd's numbering system. Whereas no two dairy goats could have the same tattoo combination, Angoras belonging to neighbours may conceivably be tattooed with the same identification number.
Furthermore, some owners tattoo the left ear and some tattoo the right, so you have to look in both ears before you can be sure the goat is tattooed at all.
If your goats must comply with federal and state scrapie regulations, you may be allowed to identify them with tattoos. Regulations vary from state to state; find out what regulations pertain in your state.
If you expect few kids each year, you may not wish to purchase your own tattoo kit or ear tag applicator.
Goat clubs sometimes hold demonstrations where you can take our kids to be tagged or tattooed.
A neighbouring goat keeper may be willing to tag or tattoo your kids for a small fee.
Success Guide For Raising Healthy Goats
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Updated 5 March 2022 ©
External
links:
American Dairy Goat Association
American Goat Society
Dairy Goat Society of Australia
DEFRA
UK
National Pygmy Goat Association
Pygmy Goat Club
Welfare of Goats During Transport