I have a new method of ear tagging pigs that I can’t wait to share with you! This past spring I wrote about tagging pigs in our piglets series. Everything in that original post is still true, except now I have an update on how to tag older pigs!
Let’s say for whatever reason you don’t get around to tagging your pigs when they’re young. Or maybe you tagged them, but an ear tag fell out. Well, I found a new strategy for tagging pigs that allows even large pigs to easily be tagged. The trick is to ear tag them while they’re eating. If you’re skeptical, I was too. But it works! We tagged 3 pigs this way, 2 gilts and 1 boar, and it was easy.
Our process was first to identify which pigs we wanted to tag. That was the hardest part because the pigs walk around a lot while eating, jostling for the best position at the food. Once we spotted the pigs we wanted to tag, and the tag was ready in the gun, we’d get up next to them and tag the ear. They’d pull away at the end of the process, but always after the tagging was complete.
So there you have it! If you don’t ear tag the pigs when they’re young, it’s okay. Just do it at feeding time!
Leave a Reply