Friday, June 10, 2011

Scrapie tags

Tomorrow we are going to wean our kids.  Most of them are 90 days old.  This is always an exciting time for me.  We will run each kid through the working chute and get their individual weights.  This will allow us to compare it to their birth weight and figure out their average daily gain (ADG).  I always look forward to seeing which kids end up with super ADG's.  Then at 150 days we will get their weight again.  This will give us an idea how well they gained on forage alone since being weaned from their dams.  Anyway.....I've yet to get to the intended subject, scrapie tags.  We plan on tagging all of the kids with their USDA scrapie tag.  As I was getting ready for tomorrow, I realized we didn't have enough tags left for all of the kids to be weaned.  I decided I needed to order more, but for the life of me I couldn't remember where I ordered them from.  Soooo I decided to share a few links that might help you in finding out who to contact in your state to get these tags.  They are free from the USDA.  (In order for us to sale our goats at our local stock yard, the goats must have an approved scrapie tag.)

Click here to go to the USDA's website to locate your state's office.  Just click on your state, and it will take you the Veterinary Services Area Office information for your state. 

Check back in a few days to see how our work day goes tomorrow.  I hope to get a lot of pictures to post.  I will also include how we figure our ADG's and our on farm index scores.   

2 comments:

  1. Our calves come in just after weaning, and they bawl for several days. Do your goats do the same?

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  2. Boy do they ever! Last year the kids were able to see their dams on the other side of the fence, and at night they all would sleep near each other on opposite sides of the fence. This only went on for a few days. I hate to hear them bawling...Our calves were worse. They ran up and down the fence line looking for a way out and stressing themselves out. (For some reason, it will only let me comment anonymously...I'll have to try to figure that one out.)

    Ashley

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