EAR MARKING. 9 



" The place of each notch has a peculiar number. An illustration 

 is given of a very good system of notching the ears, which 

 practically explains itself. When the figures required are above 

 5 or 50, two cuts are made, e.g., for 79 cut 50 and 20 on the off 

 ear, and 5 and 4 on the near ear. 



A hole in centre of both ears denotes 300. 



" One disadvantage of notching is that every breeder does not 

 " use the same system. One breeder may have a system by 

 " which he makes, say, nine cuts in each ear, and another may not 

 "adopt the same numerical order as described above. This 

 " method gives an absolutely permanent mark, but this is rather 

 " inconvenient when you buy sheep from another breeder which 

 " have been already ' notched,' or when the annual selection of 

 " yearling ewes is added to the flock. 



" A newer system, and one which is growing steadily in favour, 

 " both in this Country and elsewhere, is the ' Ear Tag' system. 

 " The ear tag is simply a narrow strip or ribbon of metal, silver 

 ' coated, which bears a distinctive number, and may also have the 

 " initials or name of the breeder. A hole (similar to the ones used 

 "for 100 or 200 in the notching system) is punched in the lower 

 " portion of the ear near the head, the ear tag inserted, and the 

 "ends closed together. Until recently this method had two 

 " drawbacks, one of which was that the ends of the tag chafed the 

 " ear of the sheep, and caused festering, and the other was that 

 " unless the ends of the ear tags were closed exactly even they 

 " were liable to drop out. This, however, is now remedied, as my 

 " firm, (Alfred Mansell & Co.) have recently put on the market 

 " what is termed the ' Lock ' Ear Tag, an illustration of which is 

 " now given. 



