Tagging Piglets
Our piglets had got quite big. Steve and I had to decide who was going to hold the pig and who was going to tag. I have to say that I didn’t fancy either job! I tried picking up one of the piglets but they were quite heavy and I struggled to hold it securely enough for Steve to tag the ear. So I got the tagging job!
This was quite difficult as the tag kept falling of the tagger before it got near the piglets ear. I also had to miss the cartilage in the ear and the vein so deciding where to place the tagwhile the piglets kept moving their heads in an attempt to get free, was not easy.
When I finally got the tag in the right place I had to really squeeze the tagging pliers in order for the tag to go through the ear. Fifteen piglets later, I had muscular aches from squeezing the pliers!
Before the pigs go the abbattoir, they will need another tag in their ear. I am not looking forward to tagging the piglets when they are bigger than they are now. So why not tag them now? The only problem with tagging them now is that the tag needed for the abbattoir is a metal tag and these types of tags can easily get caught if they have room for the er to grow or else they can squash the ear abit as the ear grow. At the moment we haven’t solved this tagging problem - but either way, I’m not looking forward to the outcome!
Pig Management Piglets Tagging
