Recently there have been some comments posted on a Pygmy Goat Chat Group about torn ears, caused by inappropriate (?) eartags. I suggested that the tags that had been applied were possibly unsuitable for the very small ears of a pygmy kid. My own experience, after experimenting with different tags, is that the smaller lamb tags with a finer ‘stem’ are ideal. Firstly they are kinder to the kid as they punch a much smaller hole through the ear. Secondly, if you snip the tag (which comes as a one piece wrap around) so that it hangs in 2 pieces either side of the ear, there is much less chance of the ear being torn if the kid gets its head caught (usually in a fence or hayrack)  I believe they are designed to break apart rather than rip the ear. Several of my goats have lost their tags this way - resulting in me having to replace with a new tag but it is a very simple (and painless task) because you can use the same hole. Much better than a torn ear in my opinion. I have used the DEFRA website to find their approved suppliers/manufacturers of eartags and will list below the ones which sell tags suitable for sheep & goats. The tags which I now use for my kids (and would recommend) are called ‘D-tags’ and I get them from Allflex Ltd. They are available from some of the other suppliers listed below (marked with a + ) but may be sold under a different name.

Approved Suppliers (called ‘supersmall’ tag) Mainland + (called ‘Easytag’)

There are a few other suppliers listed on the Defra website but they do not have websites, also some others which only seem to sell cattle tags. Below is a link to the Defra web page which lists all the suppliers;

Latest (2018) guidelines on approved types of identifiers for goats here

Hilary Breakell