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Tips for successful tattooing of your goats

Success in securing a lasting tattoo mark depends entirely upon the operator.

A few simple rules must be observed:

  • Halter or muzzle the animal, if necessary.
  • Cleanse the area to be tattooed with rubbing alcohol to remove dirt, grease, and wax.
  • Insert the correct symbols in the pliers and press the thin rubber sponge pad down very firmly over the needles. This pad helps to release the needles from the skin.
  • Check the correctness of the symbols by making a mark on a piece of paper.
  • Smear ink on the skin, choosing an area free from freckles and warts, if possible. Place the symbols parallel to and between the veins or cartilage of the ear or the veins of the tail web. The accidental piercing of a vein may spoil the tattoo. Green paste is much better for permanent tattoo identification, particularly where the tissue receiving the tattoo is black or very dark.
  • Make the imprint with a quick, firm movement and immediately apply more ink and rub vigorously and continuously for at least 15 seconds to insure penetration (an old toothbrush is excellent for working ink into the tattoo area). This is important.  Additionally, baking soda can be rubbed into the holes to get a good “set”.
  • Rinse and dry the rubber pad on the tattooer. The sponge rubber pad should be replaced when it begins to lose its elasticity.  Rinse the needles in rubbing alcohol and dry.
  • Do not disturb the area until the healing process is complete, which may be from five to twenty-one days.
  • Keep a list of tattoo numbers with names of animals and enter it in your private breeding record. The safest way to double check a tattoo is to make an impression on the animal's application for registry, as well as on some other form that will be kept as a permanent record.
  • To read the tattoo in a dark-eared animal, hold a lighted flashlight against the outside of the ear.