Why microchipping and DNA is beneficial.
Hello and Welcome back!
On the cusp of my first post, Microchipping and DNA, the response has been absolutely fantastic! I loved all the questions I received. I will touch on one of the most popular subjects today.
Why do you Microchip & DNA your goats?
We actually do not Microchip and DNA all our goats. We only Microchip and DNA our Fullbloods that meet the breed standards, and percentages upon request from the buyer.
The reasoning behind Microchipping, it is a permanent identification for the animals. For registration and DNA purposes they are required to have a permanent identifier. Tattoos and microchips are the only 2 identifications that are accepted by both. We choose to Microchip because tattoos fade and need to be touched up over time. Microchipping is also very easy and very quick to put in the animal. If you can give a goat a shot, you can microchip! They come pre-loaded in a syringe, and as in my previous post, you just slide the needle up in the webbing of the tail head and push the plunger in, and waaa-lahh you have successfully microchipped your first goat!
*Note we do not microchip before 8 weeks old, and we also check the placement of the microchip as they get older, very rarely the microchips can migrate and be difficult to locate.
Tags are awesome identifiers for in the field. Our Fullbloods get tagged at birth with a “Calf Tag”, we prefer the size of the tag for our operation because it is easy to identify from a way out in the field due to the larger size number. They do look huge on the kids, but I promise they grow into them well!.
Onto the next half of the conversation, DNA.
DNA is a very valuable tool we use on our farm. Some of you that have either visited our farm or spoken to me about our animals, know that our commercial herd is made up of a 50% percent to full blood dams. So the commercial/percentage kids are actually very high percentage to full blood, we just cannot prove the dams lineage so they are guaranteed at a minimum of 50% Savanna from the sire. With this being said you would not begin to imagine how some of the commercials or percentages look like they could be full blood, and some of the surprises you get when DNA comes back. Trying to register without DNA when having more than 1 buck or several does could cause a diaster without DNA since you cannot look at the kids and know who belongs to who. Without DNA percentage kids could be sold as a full blood and full blood could be sold as commercial/percentage kids. Therefore we decided once we started raising Fullbloods that we would become a DNA-certified herd, in order to protect the integrity of the Savanna Breed, along with protecting the buyers and ourselves. It would be too easy to make a simple mistake otherwise. DNA is the only way you can give the buyer a guarantee the animal is actually the animal they are supposed to be.
Thanks for taking the time to read! Feel free to holler with any more questions, we love talking goat!
Lacy
580-649-3136
