Tattoo numbers thought...

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Anntann

Anntann

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I've been trying to think of a way to tattoo that will give me a clue, just by the tattoo, what the breed and sex is on any given rabbit. Or sex and year of birth. so....

First: the name of the farm is Artificer Farm. first thought was AF###

but then, if I use 11 as the year date on the end, I have only one number for the rabbit, so I thought "unlikely to have a rabbit that was born in 2011 alive in 2021, so maybe just the last digit!"...so: AF##1

okay. well. Perhaps even numbers for does, and odd numbers for bucks! and if I make a mistake or the SCF visits, I'll just call them transexuals :)

does that sound like it might work out? AF101 would be a female born in 2011. AF112 would be a male born in 2012. and so on.

Anyone have a rhyme or reason to how they tattoo their rabbits? Or does it matter to you as long as it corresponds to the paperwork?
 
I know a lot of people use the first letter of the parents name then a number for the kit in the litter like BF12 (Betty, Frank 12)

I use the last number of the year (so this year is 1) does get a D (for Devon) bucks get a G (for Glen) then they get a number.

For instance 1D1 for a doe and 1G1 for a buck. I like keeping my tattoos under 4 numbers/letters mainly because I use a PenTat and my rabbits have small ears.
 
I was going to do mine according to the line, ie: if buck is G and doe is A then the kit would be GA followed by odd numbers for males and even for females therefore any bucks that I kept out of that litter would be GA1, GA3, etc... does would be GA2, GA4, etc. Thats just what works for me.
 
We always did T for Tomcat, the letter I assigned to the sire (for example, Chex is X and Cash is C), then the number of the month they are born using A for October, B for November, and C for December, the last number of the year they are born, and then what number bunny they are for that year with does being odd and bucks being even. So, a daughter of Chex born in July 2009 who was our 29th bunny so far would be TX7921.
 
I do mine TR###
my wife does hers by what ever strikes her fancy,

That said, I believe that it makes sense to have a standard tattoo, as if one of your rabbits shows up a breeder can say, yeah thats from so and so.
one breeder I know does year #, initials AB, ## for number of the rabbit, so 0AB00

__________ Sun Feb 13, 2011 9:47 pm __________

Oh, I do have a word of caution, I like your system Tomcat, but, if I know your line, and I can decode it and knock up a pedigree, where a number system it's more difficult to do.
 
I know a lot of people use the first letter of
the parents name then a number for the kit in the litter
like BF12 (Betty, Frank 12) [DevonW]

That's what works for me, this way I can look at the rabbits ear#
and know almost immediately who the parents are.
I keep a pedigree file and can always look on my Rabbit program [Evans]
to check any details. I used to keep a spiral notebook with dates of birth
parentage etc.
Ottersatin. :eek:ldtimer:
 
Jack - I know, but I'm honestly not worried about it. They can copy my pedigree all they want. It used to be just TR###, but as you can see there's other TR### tattoos, like yourself!

Not to mention I only include the sire's assigned letter, not the dam. And, with Harlequins, there's not many bloodlines so if you put together a pedigree someone would catch you.
 
Ottersatin...we have been looking at different software programs for rabbits and the one we were looking at looked good but your's looks better. How does it work for you, how long have you had it, any problems, glitches or frequent costly updates?
 
oOOOOO! You guys are great :)

so...using the year number, buck, doe, #...I'd have 1SB1 for year 2011 Sam x BeeBee kit 1 . okay.

I could add the number for the month, and even/odd for doe/buck...A november 2011 doe from samXbeebee 1SB2K: 2011 Sam x BeeBee doe2 November(k)
Or SB2K1 (Sam/Beebee Doe, born November 2011) actually...I like that.
I could do that. AND maybe after doing it for a couple of litters, keep it straight in my head. I like that.

I'll be using a pen style tattooer, which I understand works well on older ears, so I could be more sure of the male/female when tattooing.
The only thing I see as a problem down the road is identifying rabbits as coming from my rabbitry, which is why I thought starting with AF would work well.

Is there a limit on the number of spaces you can use on the ear?
 
Sandy & Dave,
I have had Rabbit Register for more years than I can remember
and I wouldn't be without it. A vast majority of breeders have the same program.
I would go the few extra $$Bucks$$ and get the one with the Genetics program.
If you choose to ad the Genetics later it will cost more.
Dave Evans or his Son are always available to answer any questions.
I don't get anything for saying this: But, Evans is the one to have!
Not just my opinion but that of many other Rabbit Breeders.
I know you will be more than Happy with it.
Ottersatin. :eek:ldtimer:
 
The Evans are awesome and very quick with help!!! Here's a small drawback to putting buck's and doe's first letters together... Make sure the 2 letters don't stand for something rude!!!!!! Happened to a friend, they had tattooed half a litter before they realized they had put " FU" in the ears...
 
Good to know and probably something I wouldn't have thought about. I will remember to stay away from any U lines. Thank you for the feedback we will be going with Evans, this forum has been a wealth of information and I intend to utilize it to the fullest.
 
Yeah, I still like the standard system, as I can look at any Thrianta locally and see instantly from the ear if it came from an Alaskan breeder, once I know that, I can call them and see about what line it came from.
 
Devon's Mom Lauren":3r96y794 said:
The Evans are awesome and very quick with help!!! Here's a small drawback to putting buck's and doe's first letters together... Make sure the 2 letters don't stand for something rude!!!!!! Happened to a friend, they had tattooed half a litter before they realized they had put " FU" in the ears...
Click to expand...
:lol: oopsie!

__________ Mon Feb 14, 2011 4:32 pm __________

tomcatrabbitry":3r96y794 said:
The only limit is how long the ears are lol.
Click to expand...
most of the ones that need to be tattooed are Americans and Beverens...LOOOOoooong ears. and broad. I could write a whole paragraph! oo..that's a thought :D put the pedigree in the ear! :rotfl:
 
Late to chime in, as usual. I may change the way I've been doing this. I've been using SA### and going chronologically. I tattoo anything that I've bought if it isn't already with BE (bred elsewhere) and then the numbers chronologically, unless the breeder has already assigned a tattoo number on the pedigree.
 
pfaubush":2ofknbbk said:
Late to chime in, as usual. I may change the way I've been doing this. I've been using SA### and going chronologically. I tattoo anything that I've bought if it isn't already with BE (bred elsewhere) and then the numbers chronologically, unless the breeder has already assigned a tattoo number on the pedigree.
Click to expand...
That's pretty much what I was originally thinking. Farm abbreviation and then a number. It makes it easy to associate any rabbit that you're bred. I'm TORN....

(Rabbits really need 3 ears...ID tattoo, DOB and parents, and the third for a registration. :? thank god I don't need to tattoo my chickens! :x
 
I use the same system as my mentor:

Each ear number starts with the last digit of the year, as you suggest, followed by my rabbitry initials (HH) followed by the litter's number (I don't have too many litters per year so far, so I just start at 1 and go chronologically,) and then bucks get a even number and does get a odd number.

For example, my last litter born last year was 0HH1 and since I had four bucks and four does, they were 0HH11-0HH14 or 0HH12-0HH18 (for example.)

My first and second litters this year will be 1HH1 and 1HH2, with kit numbers.

This really only works because I'm not expecting huge numbers of litters per year and Thriantas don't really have litters in the double digits. :)

You could do one digit for the year, one digit for breed letter or number, and then follow the system...I dunno! I was more than happy to adopt a proven system that seemed to work well.

For my Silver Fox litters I might follow the same system as I use for Thriantas except add an S somewhere in there to separate the breeds, since SF ears are bigger. :)
 
For now my meat rabbits are just doe letter and a number. I will probably put a litter number on the next round. I wanted to put the buck and then the doe but I would need 2 of several letters to make that work or assign a random letter/number to each rabbit but then I'd have to keep track of that as well.
 

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