Tattoo time

No, no, no - not Tattoo from Fantasy Island people! Goat tattoo time!

All of our does are registered with American Dairy Goat Association which means they have registration papers and they must be tattooed.

The right ear gets our farm tattoo so everyone can tell where they came from. SDS1, which I think sounds like a personal feminine spray.

The left ear gets a letter designating the year, 2008 = Y and an identifying number, 1, 2, 3 and so forth. Since we only had three doelings this year, we had Y1, Y2 and Y3.

Oh, wait! Lamanchas have no ears... well, for them, they get thier little tail tattooed. There is extra skin on the tail called the tail web. You pull it to the side on both the right and left sides and tattoo away! In my experience, the goats still jump and shout, but seem to jump and shout less at a tail tattoo vs. an ear tattoo.

I have a little tattoo device that is like a clamp. In the end goes little plastic rectangles that have a letter or number imbedded in the rectangle in metal points. I put all the letters and numbers in the tattoo clamp, I tattoo a piece of paper to make sure all letters/numbers are going the right way and then Furry Husband holds the goat kid and I clamp down. I would imagine it's a bit like getting your ears pierced? Then I squeeze some green tattoo ink paste onto an old toothbrush and I rub the ink into the holes. Usually the kids turn green with ink, I turn green with ink, Furry Husband turns green with ink... no matter how careful you are, green ink ends up everywhere.

The kids don't like the tattoo of course but after it's over, they resume bouncing and playing as if nothing happened. It's quick and over just as quick.