The Eradicate Scrapie program has been in place for years now... don't think there will ever be an online application type thing. Maybe try dropping by your area office in person instead of calling? It only takes 5 minutes to call though.
OK….heart still pumping but I just got off the phone (when I said last week I don't make phone calls….you don't know the extent of it LOL. I mean, I go hungry before I'll call to order a pizza.) But - after entering my flock into the Flock Filer program last night, I realized I do need to do this. My sheep don't have names and the 3 ewes I have are so similar it took me months to find subtle differences in order to tell them apart. They were difficult to enter into the program - because they don't have tags so I can only go by their description. Their offspring will be similarly identical, I imagine, so the only way I can really keep good records is by tagging.
So I bolstered myself with extra coffee, bit the bullet and called. And you're right - they made it easy and best of all, its DONE!!!
Now I'm kind of mad. I got my goats from one source, and my 6 sheep from 3 different sources. Of all of them, only the two youngest lambs, acquired in November, have tags. When I mentioned it to the lady I bought them from, she told me it is the law in our state that all lambs sold MUST have identification. In other words, the goat seller and first two sheep sellers did NOT comply with the law and I was too much of a novice to know it.
I have no intention of selling lambs for the foreseeable future. Ewe lambs will be kept as breeders and ram lambs will be wethered and go straight to butcher before they are 12 months old. But for flock identification purposes, I will tag, and that will help me to keep their pedigrees straight. And, if I ever do get to the point I want to sell a few, I'll now be doing it legally.
