USDA tags scrappie tags

[jodief100]

We tag girls on the right, boys on the left. I would like to do what 20 kids does with her tags but I am too cheep to spend the $1 per tag when the scrapie ones are free. I keep good records in my spreadsheet so i can look anyone up with their number. We microchip the registered ones. I would love to get a pad so I can scan and download info on the spot but that is way to expensive for me.

 

[purplequeenvt]

Does anyone know the current status of the Scrapie program? We got an e-mail a long time ago about how it would be changing... anyone know what the changes were/are?

I just had to deal with the USDA about all the changes. There was a deadline for letting them know which version of the program you wanted to proceed with and that deadline has passed. We were able to get back in without much issue since we have been part of the program for years.

Basically, the program is now divided into 2 categories for the voluntary program. I don't know how the mandatory program works.

Category 1 is the Select. In this program, there are no yearly inspections. You have to keep flock records on who went where when, who died (and why). There is also a required number of animal samples depending on flock size. For our flock it is 1 animal every two years. This would be an animal that died or was slaughtered. You'd call your vet or the state vet and they'd come out and collect a sample of the brain stem. There is no scrapie free certification.

The other category is Export. This one has yearly inspections, lots of record keeping, animal sampling, etc... You can get certified scrapie free. There's more to this category, but it's too complicated to explain like this. This one is for the larger farms where they want to be exporting animals, embryos and such.

 

[goatboy1973]

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.

Congrats!!! You now have an extra layer of protection for your herd and potential customers will have a sense that you care about your animals by registering them with the USDA.

 

[goatboy1973]

We tag girls on the right, boys on the left. I would like to do what 20 kids does with her tags but I am too cheep to spend the $1 per tag when the scrapie ones are free. I keep good records in my spreadsheet so i can look anyone up with their number. We microchip the registered ones. I would love to get a pad so I can scan and download info on the spot but that is way to expensive for me.

We put the scrapies tag in the left ear in all of our goats and the farm tag in their right ear. We use Microsoft Excel to keep all our goat info like D.O.B., lineage, BW, WW, YW,....etc. we use a button type goat/sheep tag and depending on breed/ % Spanish etc. our pure 100% Koy Ranch Spanish get a blue tag in their right ear. If they are % Spanish they get a green tag in their right ear, and if the have no Spanish they get an orange tag in their right ear. When we separate our goats this color coding system works awesome! When we have a customer come to the farm, we can give them an abbreviated info sheet (D.O.B., breed, %Spanish etc. and a legend describing what each color denotes). Our customers love this!

 

[bloonskiller911]

does anyone know how to back track a usda premise number on a tag?

 

[SheepGirl]

There was a website where you could see people in the voluntary program...I will have to see if I can find it. It doesnt have people for the mandatory program though.

 

[SheepGirl]

Found it!

https://vsapps.aphis.usda.gov/scrreports/stateSFCPReport

 

[bloonskiller911]

Thanks for the link. it was a dead end for me but at least I have tried to back track a tag!

 

[goatboy1973]

Right now this Scrapie Eradication is purely voluntary but eventually it will be mandatory and already we are seeing big auctions like Abingdon, Virginia only accepting goats/sheep with the I.D. Tag.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

Here, we don't have to have the tags if they are tattooed and registered. So long as they have a way to track them down, which is great because I hate tags.