I recently purchased several hundred lambs at Auction.  When I went to drench them the next day, I found about 100 had ear tags growing into their ears. The person that had tagged them had not allowed any room for the ears to grow. I am going to have to cut out 200 ear tags and replace them to save the lambs suffering.  I am amazed at the lack of stockmanship and commonsense of some people.

farmerbill:

ear tags growing into their ears

In what way?  In the past I have bought lambs tagged with loop tags which have been put in too close to the edge of the ear and the ear has grown and sort of curled over.  With this problem at least all I had to do was cut through the loop but the tags could stay in.

I've often seen cattle with metal tags put in too tight to the ear. The ear just seems to grow around it, and doesn't seem to cause any discomfort.

A lot of these ears are infected with pus and scabs around the tags, the ears have been growing around the tags. Jacobus, it may help if I cut the tags but I would be worried that some may fall out.

farmerbill:

it may help if I cut the tags but I would be worried that some may fall out.

 

If they fall out put one of yours in before selling. Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill. The puss and scabs are probably caused by infection due to poor hygiene rather than tagging too close to the ear ( IMHO ).

welshnwilling:

The puss and scabs are probably caused by infection due to poor hygiene rather than tagging too close to the ear ( IMHO ).

Have to agree.  Probably wet and dirty when tagged.

Welshn willing, I find myself reading and agreeing with most of your posts, however to suggest that this is not caused by the actual placement of tags is complete b****cks.  These ears are not in a good way and as these sheep grow more problems will occurr. All the sheep affected are from one vendor.Since compulsory tagging came in I have handled and tagged many many thousands of sheep and know by now whether a sheep has been tagged correctly. Over the years we have had to replace tags that have been lost or odd ones because of infection etc it is part of the job. If it was not for sheep inspections etc I would just cut them all out. As over 100 of them are ewe lambs for flock replacements I will replace them with my double replacement tags. As I have had flock inspections, I know what hassle missing tags can cause. I do not think it is making a mountain out of a molehill expecting somebody to tag their sheep properly so that I dont have to spend hours cleaning up their ruddy mess.    

Come on Jacobus,Dont you think I am aware of the fact that dirty and wet ears can cause infection.? These tags have been placed too tight to the ear not allowing for any growth. I dont know how many sheep have passed through this farm in the last 10 years but these are by far the worst of 50,000.

farmerbill:

to suggest that this is not caused by the actual placement of tags is complete b****cks.  These ears are not in a good way and as these sheep grow more problems will occurr. All the sheep affected are from one vendor.

 

If this is the case then I would cut out the tags on welfare ground and take up the matter with the vendor/auctioneer as to replacement tags and compensation. Almost afraid to ask this, but here goes.......did you not see their ears when you bought them ?

Welsh, No,I did not notice when I bought them, I was 15m away,they are fine sheep and were what I was looking for. I have notified the Auctioneer and expressed my annoyance and asked him to inform the vendor so he does not make the same mistake again. I will not be seeking any compensation as anyone can make mistakes and I will sort it out. Maybe I should not have mentioned it on this forum, but I thought it good to bring it up as it might make people think a bit more when they tag sheep. I also felt like blowing off steam as I can go a few days without seeing anyone but the Mrs. Over the years I have bought many sheep that have not been tagged legally,on 1occasion one bloke had used his farm name in the ear instead of a UK tag, I did not realise for ages, all the tags he used looked identical some were UK tags some carried the farm name instead. As far as DEFRA are concerned the non UK tags meant the sheep were un tagged, if I had not noticed in time I would have had my SFP raided, there were about 60 with the wrong tags in. Other people have double tagged ewes with different numbers in each ear. Sorry if you think I am making a fuss about nothing, sometimes its good to have a moan to reduce stress.

farmerbill:

Sorry if you think I am making a fuss about nothing, sometimes its good to have a moan to reduce stress.

 

You're obviously not making a fuss about nothing and it should be me apologising for suggesting so. The reason I did so is because I have heard so many similar stories from my neighbour. He follows the rule book to the letter and gets very stressed in the process. I'm not suggesting we should all ignore the rules but I do believe that sometimes it is far better to bend them a bit, for the sake of your health.

In this case for example it would be less stressful perhaps if you just cut the tags in question out and replace them with your own. Although this isn't completely legal, on your scale of farming, who's going to notice ?

As for venting your frustration, it's far better to do so on this forum than keeping it all bottled up. So I'm told !

welshnwilling:

As for venting your frustration, it's far better to do so on this forum than keeping it all bottled up.

.. and postings would be a lot thinner on the ground if people didn't use it to have a moan!!