Ear tagging 'mumma' guilt

[Ms_Mudd]

I will prefix my guilt with this- I had some contact with the head of Biosecurity  with the Department of Primary Industries here in Australia, sorting out what I was obliged to do when taking my goats out and into the State Forests etc. Ear tagging with my property identification code while not strictly necessary for walking around town at this stage, it will be necessary for using Traveling Stock Reserves on hikes in the future etc as well as then making me extremely compliant with what the DPI want and thought in the interest of keeping the regulatory bodies on side with my goat plans, I would go ahead with it. Technically the kids should have been ear tagged at birth and I should have had permission to move them from their birth place to my property in the first place....So I thought best to get it done young and hope they get over it.

So I had the tags made, bought the applicator and just tagged my little guys. Oh the guilt! Poor wee babies. They were immediately back to eating afterward and I went and lopped them down some peach tree branches straight away  which they were delighted with, but oh my goodness, I can't believe what a baby *I* am being about it.
I am a bit unhappy with the positioning of Vincent's tag by only a few milimetres as he moved in my husbands arms last minute. I just managed to catch the edge of the ridge of cartilage, but will just iodine it daily and keep an eye on it, hopefully will be okay.

So there is my guilty ramble, never mind that every day at work I give injections to brand new human babies and don't feel bad over it...but ask me to ear tag my three month old goats and you better get me the box of kleenex!

[Ms_Mudd]

Added an untagged pic from the other week, while they trustingly slept at my feet!!!
And a pic of Jeff with his 'earring'. Was hard to get a photo as they are so 'busy'

[Deborah Haney]

Goat cries get me every time. When Max was 4 weeks old and needed a series of injections (BoSe, CTD, vitamins, etc.) They asked if I wanted him to stay in the room or if they should take him to the back. I had him stay so I could comfort him. Boy was that a mistake. I became an auntie yesterday and even my nephews cries don't hit me like Max's.

[blackie's maiden]

So funny, but I can relate. When we had a large herd of about 40, we would get the occasional goat that would eventually get an infection around those.tags, eventually lose the tag and.then have an ugly hole in the ear. Here, we do have an option of ordering id chips from USDA, at a hefty price of $38 a.piece. For our younger packgoats not yet tagged, we may opt for that and.then also put some kind of dog tag with phone number on their collar. Also before trips, we will also use a permanent magic marker to write our cell phone number in big.letters on the collars themselves.

Do you have an option of.microchips to satisfy your government? You do have to plan ahead here as our government knows no deadlines other than their own!

[Ms_Mudd]

Do you have an option of.microchips to satisfy your government? You do have to plan ahead here as our government knows no deadlines other than their own!

We do have the option of microchips (or the equivalent - electronic id) but they have to be embedded in visual id ear tag rather than subcut like with dogs and cats.  I also have little dog tags on their collars which  they wear when we go out. Good idea you have about marking the collar too, in case the dog tag goes astray (pun not intended! lol) . I have only been out and about in town with them so far, but am very much looking forward to our first bush walk.

Thank you so much for the replies, I knew the community here would 'get' my distress.
Unlike me, they were over it the second I was done tagging and in the days since don't even seem to be sore which has surprised me, I have seen them rubbing and scritching their faces as they normally do, including the tagged ear. The tag site looks clean,dry and not swollen at all, much less fuss  than I thought the aftercare would be so far.

[Nanno]

I'm glad all is well with the ear tags. I tattoo my goats' ears and register them with the American Dairy Goat Association. I have a box of tags issued by the government, but I put them on quick links so they can be attached to the collars when we leave the state and then removed when we get home. I shouldn't have to use the tags at all since I tattoo, but there are too many "Barney Fifes" working in government that might go apoplectic if I didn't have government-issued scrapies tags with my goats. I've never yet run into one, and I hope I never do.

Glad you're having such fun with your boys! They're adorable!