# Best tattooer for the money



## JB goats (Jan 11, 2011)

I am trying to buy a new tattooer. I bought a 5/16" tattooer from Hamby Dairy Supply and I was a bit disappointed. It was a great deal! The pliers are well made, as well as the extra letters I bought. The alphabet that came with the set is very small. The M and H look too similar for the M to be usable. The G is upside down and looks like an 0 with a dot in the middle. So I have decided that I need a 3/8" (I used one before and the tattoos came out beautifully). The thing is, I don't know if I should get one from Hamby Dairy Supply for $75 and hope that the letters are better made and that the pliers are just as small as the 5/16", or if I should go with Hoegger's and pay $99 for numbers and letters I know are good, but the tattooer itself is bigger and doesn't fit in Alpine ears as well. The picture is of the entire alphabet (so you can see I didn't mix up M, H, or W). Also a picture of the bigger bought letter and the grey smaller letter. Lastly the difference in size between what I thought was a .300 stone and the 5/16" Hamby. Any advice would be welcome!


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## JB goats (Jan 11, 2011)

Since I am done with my search for a tattooer I will post my findings here for others.

So in my kit I wanted 2 pliers with ear releases, 1 alphabet, 3 extra letters for my herd tattoo, green tattoo ink, and 2 sets of numbers. (A tackle box eventually, but I could buy that later).

Hamby does not accept returns on anything that is "on sale, clearance, etc" so now I have my tattoo kit. It is a size 5/16" but the 3/8" and 5/16" are the same price. ($10 more for a second pliers).

*Hamby Dairy Supply* 5/16" set is $69.85 including a tackle box. But shipping was $10.50 for me. 3 extra letters was $5.07. A total of $85.42.
The letters are a bit wobbly. The numbers were crooked when I stamped a piece of paper, so they could be tighter, though I don't see that as a deal breaker. The company said that they would send me extra letters for the G that was upside down and backwards and the M that didn't look like an M, but I will see.

*Jeffers Livestock!* They carry both Stone and T. A. Walthem. Stone is a very good company that produces very good quality tattoo equipment, but they are extremely expensive so I will be leaving them out of this review.
Walthem seems to be the best buy at Jeffers. For a 5/16" set that includes 1 alphabet, 1 number set, and black ink it is $35.95 and the letters are $0.25 each and the alphabet is $12.95, and a number set is $8.95. If I had to do it over again I would go to this place. It has free shipping, and the customer service is great. I called to ask what the letters on a 5/16" tattoo looked like and the lady went out to the warehouse and looked up the G and M for me. (I later realized that I failed to mention that I wanted the T.A. Walthem set so I don't know if she looked at that or Stone).

Jeffers 3/8" wasn't much more expensive, but they were out of the sets (indefinitely backordered) so all they have is a revolving pliers and I'm not adventurous enough to try those.

Since they don't sell the tattoo pliers individually, my total here would be $72.65 including shipping.

*Estep Sheep and Goat Supplies* has 3 different types of tattoo pliers. This is a small company with some really good deals on their pliers, but you have to call or email to ensure that the prices on the website are up to date. http://goatsupplies.netfirms.com/

*Hoegger Supply Company* has nice little sets of tattooers. In my search for the 3/8" tattooer this was a large possibility. If I bought all my items separately it would come up to $98.00 for it all (not including tackle box or shipping). Since I had used a 3/8" from them before and liked it, that would have been a safe buy. I'm still tempted to get 1 pliers, 1 alphabet, and 1 set of numbers from them just in case I have to re-tattoo a larger goat ($52.85 or wait for Jeffers). I had trouble fitting the pliers in the ears of my weaned alpines (3 months old). So it would be best for re-tattooing or for Nubians. The digits did not move with this tattoo kit.
Otherwise the 5/16" kit with 1 alphabet, 1 set of numbers, 1 pliers, black and green ink, and a tacklebox is $79.95. If you read above, this set is more expensive than other companies'.

*PBS Animal Health *seems to have the best prices on Stone products, I could be wrong (please post if I am). So I would go here if I had my heart set on a Stone tattoo kit.

This isn't the entire list of places to get tattoo kits from. I didn't even find Jeffers Livestock on my first sweep of looking for a tattoo kit. So if there are other places with better deals please post. Oh and buying the cheapest isn't always buying the best.


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