Ear infection after tagging.

[MrFencer]

Doubled tagged a few gimmer lambs to keep as replacements using shearwell tags.
Some seem to have bad infections where the tags have gone. Tags have been put in in the right place. Is it something I've done wrong? Sprayed them with cyclo spray will this make them go down or should I cut tags out of them?

 

[hoff135]

Doubled tagged a few gimmer lambs to keep as replacements using shearwell tags.
Some seem to have bad infections where the tags have gone. Tags have been put in in the right place. Is it something I've done wrong? Sprayed them with cyclo spray will this make them go down or should I cut tags out of them?

Ive never seen any sprays do much after the go septic. After many months it will usually heal up but sometimes a rather large hole is left. Have tried disinfecting tags before hand but didnt seem to help. And any make of tag i tried was the same.

Its a bit of a faf and not ideal but we bought a 1/4 and 3/8 inch holing iron and pre hole the ears a few weeks prior to tagging. Let the hole heal up then tag. Sometimes there can be a bit of gunk left in the hole you have to push out. However we almost never get septic ears with this.

 

[clod hopper]

Ive never seen any sprays do much after the go septic. After many months it will usually heal up but sometimes a rather large hole is left. Have tried disinfecting tags before hand but didnt seem to help. And any make of tag i tried was the same.

Its a bit of a faf and not ideal but we bought a 1/4 and 3/8 inch holing iron and pre hole the ears a few weeks prior to tagging. Let the hole heal up then tag. Sometimes there can be a bit of gunk left in the hole you have to push out. However we almost never get septic ears with this.

Why do it now when there's still flys about

 

[glasshouse]

Tagging should be stopped

 

[Highland Mule]

Is it something I've done wrong?

Should have tagged them at birth, back when the weather is cold and the flies aren't around.

 

[michael N123]

Tagging should be stopped

Why

 

[glasshouse]

Why

Its totally unecessary

 

[HarryB97]

Its totally unecessary

How else would you mark your stock incase they escaped, accurately and quickly record weight gains and have accurate medicine records for withdrawals etc?

 

[hoff135]

Why do it now when there's still flys about

Well we are forced to before selling. But ears still get infected in winter. Never had bother with maggots on ears

 

[glasshouse]

How else would you mark your stock incase they escaped, accurately and quickly record weight gains and have accurate medicine records for withdrawals etc?

We managed fine for centuries without compulsory tagging.
The slaughter tags areparticularlystupid and pointless

 

[Plopper]

Dip the end of tags In iodine Before tagging .

 

[neilo]

Dip the end of tags In iodine Before tagging .

The tags aren’t the source of infection, the open wound is. All disinfecting tags does is make the operator feel like he’s doing something useful imo.

 

[tepapa]

My lambs were tagged at birth in April but I still had two with infected ears this month due to flies bothering them. Luckily the flies are going and their healing nicely now.

 

[Muddyroads]

I tag soon after birth, and although I rarely see any infections around the tags, I do seem to get more joint ill than I would like which seems to correspond with the tagging. Anyone else get this?

 

[clod hopper]

I'm in the middle of laming in NZ right now. One case of joint ill so far (100 odd lambs) it was a twin and I sprayed it's navel 1-2hrs after birth,, this was not my normal practice. I normally spray the day after when I move out of birthing paddock I tag at same time, brass tag. (Don't know if the brass makes a difference)
I try not to hang the lamb from it's legs but hold it's chest when spraying iodine. My thinking is that I'm not streaching it's joints especially big lambs.

 

[PuG]

Bit unrelated - but over the last two/three years I've had three calf's having a reaction to the ear tag itself. One of which died.

 

[Jerry]

I tag soon after birth, and although I rarely see any infections around the tags, I do seem to get more joint ill than I would like which seems to correspond with the tagging. Anyone else get this?

I’m convinced tagging can be a route to joint ill. And ringing as well.

I try and keep tings and tags as clean as possible.

 

[Henarar]

I’m convinced tagging can be a route to joint ill. And ringing as well.

I try and keep tings and tags as clean as possible.

This year we put iodine on both the ring and the tails/balls before putting the ring on then more after they were on, also put it on tags and didn't see any joint ill where we have in previous years, maybe just coincidence thought but we will do it again this year.
Vet reckoned that when you put the ring on you can trap tiny bits of dirt and it gradually pushes in as the ring does its job.
Bit of a faf but I can't see iodine doing any harm so worth a go

 

[neilo]

I’m convinced tagging can be a route to joint ill. And ringing as well.

I try and keep tings and tags as clean as possible.

The wound is, not the tag/ring.

We used to get terrible joint-ill that showed itself in lambs a few days after the tail/balls dropped off, leaving a temporary open wound at 2-3 weeks old. Dad always reckoned to spray every ring with purple spray when I was young, which didn’t make any difference, and I never have. Any ring is no longer sterile by the time it breaks the skin, having been pee’d or shat on for weeks.
The joint-ill affecting them at that stage was soil borne erysiphillis, and only stopped when we started vaccinating them for it. I never see joint-ill at that stage now, but do see the odd one when younger, taken in through a wet navel when lambing indoors.

I tag any potential ‘keeper’ lambs at birth. I don’t disinfect tags, but do try to keep them out of the muck, and would very rarely see any infections.
Tag anything outdoors in the summer, when there are flies around, and infection/festering is too common though. I try to tag slaughter lambs as they are sorted ready to go, so they don’t have time to fester.

 

[Highland Mule]

The joint-ill affecting them at that stage was soil borne erysiphillis, and only stopped when we started vaccinating them for it.

What vaccine is this @neilo?