Ketchum model 201A tattooer

Details

Tattooing is what you fall back on when a tag is gone. Purebred registration, replacement heifer records and any operation that wants identification nobody can pull out of an ear all come back to a set of numbers pinched into the skin. The 201A takes 8 mm characters and holds up to eight of them in two rows of four, which gives room for a herd prefix above and an animal number below without cramming. Characters in the bottom row change out with a split pin and the top row is held by a lever locking bar. Ketchum builds it around a chisel point pin, which puts down a mark that reads as a continuous line rather than a string of separate dots. Work on a clean, dry inner ear between the ribs of cartilage, ink first or ink after depending on your habit, and squeeze once and firmly. Ear tattoos are permanent identification and herd management marks. They are not a substitute for an approved CCIA tag on cattle.