I was shocked to realize that even though I have raised and sold goats for several years now , I have NEVER sold a bottle baby. Thats a fact. No real reason other than no one wanted a bottle baby before. I Dam raise so it is not a big problem. They really don't eat all that much grain before weening but now I may be selling bottle babies and I need to know if I tatoo them this small will the tatoos be there when they are grown? Are their ears even big enough (American Alpine)at a week or less old?
I always tattoo at the same time I disbud them. I like to get it over with all at once. The tattoos will still be there when they grow up I know a Togg breeder who tattoos hers at birth! Tracy
I tattoo my Nubians at the same time as I disbudd. Its a load off my mind when its done. My Lamanchas I wait as long as I possibly can....hate tattooing those *tiny* tail webs. :lol
:biggrin Yes Sherri, Thats the kind of tatooing I am familier with. I still have not tatooed last years doeling that I kept. :nooo
Me either...I still have 4 from last year and now have 5 this year...oh well they will get done when I can find the times...got 4 disbudded yesterday but didnt do the tattoo yet ears too little for me...
:rofl I tattoo at disbudding too...only 'cause with a whole bunch of brown/white babies...by the time the tattoo is readable, it's time for the cute paper collars to come off. Then no mistaken identities. :lol Kaye
Tatooing at disbudding time sounds Ok to me but I don't know when I will be disbudding these girls. They don't have any buttons yet and they are 5 days old. I usually disbud boys at 3 days and the bigger girls and then the smaller girls at 5 days. I have never had a polled goat so I doubt these are. I will just check every day till I feel them. :?
All of my dairy babies are disbudded and tattooed except the last 2 that was born Sunday. Their ears just seem too little to me for my pliars to fit into. I even tattooed my 2 year old and yearling that I never got around to :blush2
I like to tattoo at about 6-8 weeks. I do kids sooner that are leaving soon but on keeper kids or kids that are getting picked up later I wait. I think it is much easier to get a good tattoo in tiny Alpine ears when you can actully fit it all in Becky
