Tagging the Young'uns

Todd got tagged while eating dinner. He didn't even notice.

When we first started tagging the animals, I did not have the stomach for it. We had to wait for Festus, the cowboy down the street, to come tag the goats. We've come a long way since then: this time around I tagged several kids without their even noticing. (Food was far more fascinating.)

The government's Scrapie Eradication program would have sheep and goat owners tag all their animals. Although I understand there have been no cases of scrapie reported in goats in years and years, it's rather like polio or measles: you get the shot to maintain public health. Once the tags are applied, the goats do not appear to notice them. The application is similar to getting ears pierced: a quick snap with an applicator gun and the job is finished.

Our "numbers girls" are now twice tagged.

Our animals are tagged when they're over a year old. The littlest fainting goats, Number Two and Number Three, got to wait until they were two years old because they were already wearing herd tags when they arrived here. I did not want to add more tags.

But, the law is the law, so now they're tagged. In their case, I guess, tags are just another form of goat jewelry.