Where To Get Tattoo Equipment For Goats

Animal Tattoo Identification / Pig Tattoo kits

Ketchum's tattoo equipment gives yous the ways to permanently and positively identify your livestock. Tattoos are a peachy redundancy solution in the issue that a livestock tag is lost. Information technology can be difficult to identify your animals that are the same breed, so tattoos can preclude any defoliation between the livestock.

Information technology'south recommended you use redundant identification methods for this very reason - and a good fashion to go about that is to utilize both tattooing and livestock tagging. Constructive methods include a numeral organization to organize your livestock.

Our fauna tattoo equipment is designed to brand the process every bit piece of cake and equally fast equally possible. We offer both animal tattoo ink and the tools to apply the tattoos to your animals. Our brute tattoo kits are advanced and effective in preventing tearing and scratching from livestock moving during the process.

The Roots of Pig Tattoo Identification

Every bit far back as 15,000 years ago—even earlier the advent of organized agriculture—our Neolithic ancestors hitting on the idea of domesticating animals. Most certainly the first wild creature to undergo the transformation from competitor to partner was the dog, a predator whose pack fauna instincts made for a natural fit with human hunters, non just as companions but equally skilled helpers. Soon after, pigs and then sheep, goats, and cattle were also beingness kept by people for a ready supply of nutrient and fur in times of hunting scarcity. And thus was born the art of creature husbandry.

Over time, as the practice spread and developed among human settlements, and more wild creatures were "tamed" and added to the roster of domesticated animals, it became clear that a method was needed to identify individual members of the growing herds and flocks of livestock in the care of farmers. This was done partly only to keep rail of them should any go off-target, only also to protect against theft.

We know from the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi and Egyptian hieroglyphics that these ancient peoples had early on established systems of mark their livestock for identification purposes, whether by hot-branding or by etching marks into the horns of cattle. Since the do of homo body modification with tattoos predates written history, information technology stands to reason that somewhen livestock would be marked with tattoos as well as a means of identifying them.

Hog Tattooing: A Beginner's Guide

In mod times there are a variety of methods used to identify pigs, including ear-notching and paint, along with collars and tags (both electronic and not-electronic). By far the most common method, nevertheless, involves marking the pig by means of a tattoo. This is typically done with a special type of plier (for marking the ear) or a hammer-similar "slapper" (for the shoulder or dorsum). These tools are equipped with spiked dies of various sizes (appropriate for the age, gender, and ultimate destination of the squealer, whether breeding farm or abattoir) that banner on the skin a series of numbers and/or letters, which are then recorded for later identification. Nowadays, user-friendly pig tattoo kits are available commercially for this purpose from livestock tattoo equipment vendors.

The color ink used largely depends on the blazon of hog. Green ink tends to evidence up better on lighter-skinned breeds. Black ink is used near exclusively for pigs destined for slaughter.

Animal Tattooing FAQs

Why is animate being identification of import?

Properly identifying livestock animals isn't merely an important herd management exercise, it is an essential ane. Using a reliable and accurate identification organization enables the farmer to institute buying of the animals and also to maintain comprehensive records regarding breeding, milk and meat product, and the wellness of individual animals and of the herd overall.
Besides tattooing, what other methods of livestock identification are there?
Animal identification methods can be divided into two categories: permanent and impermanent. Examples of permanent identification include microchips implanted under the surface of the pare, ear-notching, branding, and tattooing. On the other mitt, external tags and transponders, poultry wing and leg bands, chalk, pigment, and similar temporary markings are examples of impermanent livestock identification systems.
Which livestock identification system is best?
There is no single "best" system. The method(due south) called will depend upon a number of factors, such equally budget, blazon and number of animals in the herd, geography and prevailing climate, regime and breed-association regulations, and of course the farmer's primary reason for identifying the livestock in the first place. Tattooing, however, remains one of the most common, reliable, and price-effective ways of identifying porcine livestock.
What kind of animals can be tattooed?
Historically, at that place is practically no limit to the kinds of animals that can been tattooed. Pigs by far are the ones near frequently marked in this way; though most equus caballus breeds that race in North America may too be tattooed for identification purposes (inside the upper lip). Across that, in the past various species of dogs, cats, cows, sheep, goats, foxes, chinchillas, rabbits, laboratory rats and mice, monkeys, turkeys, alligators, and even fish, simply to name a few, accept been successfully tattooed.

While ear tags may exist a perfectly reliable fashion to identify one's livestock, they do sometimes fall off. Therefore, back-up in this regard is always advisable. You tin can't go wrong when your hogs are marked with an enduring, recognizable, and lifelong tattoo.

Here are the basic steps involved in hog-tattooing:

Buy a high-quality pig tattoo kit from Ketchum Mfg. Co.
To preclude contamination when information technology'south time to tattoo your pigs, ensure that the tattoo dies are dust-free, clean, and sanitized.
Ready the pigs for tattooing. Make clean the expanse to be tattooed and disinfect it with rubbing alcohol.
Insert the dies as needed into the plier or slapper.
If the ear is to exist tattooed, apply a tattoo plier.
Make sure the animate being is restrained to prevent tearing or other injury. Utilize a generous amount of ink to the outside of the ear. Then quickly and firmly squeeze the tattoo plier on the ear, making certain all the dice needles have penetrated the skin. After you remove the plier, gently rub the ink into holes made by the dies, and clean off whatever remaining backlog ink. The skin will heal over the pierced areas, leaving a permanent visible tattoo.
If the back or shoulder is to be tattooed, utilise a hog slapper.
Generously coat the dies of the slapper with ink from an ink pad. Aim for a flat surface on the back or shoulder of the animal, with the intent of making a vertical or virtually-vertical marking. A total-swing of the hammer is not necessary to make a clear tattoo, as the weight of the hammer in its down motion is sufficient to permit the dies to penetrate the skin and leave backside a clearly legible tattoo.

Below are two videos illustrating each of these pig-tattooing techniques.

Instructions for Tattooing a Squealer's Ear with a Plier