Numbering kits

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Narcissus

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
510
Location
idaho
I know that the numbers you guys post as "kit numbers" is a way of tracking kits. But I was just wondering, what does the letter intent of the number mean? I always see "Z45" and "X16" and stuff like that.... But what does it mean? Do ask breeders follow the same letters? Or does each ranch have their own way of organizing?
 
Their is a national ranching system in place. One for the US and Europe and one for Canada. We use letters of the alphabet to designate what year a kit is born. 2010 is the letter Z and 2009 was X, next year will be the letter A. This way, no matter what ranch an animal comes from, if you don't have the DOB you at least know what year the animal was born. It also helps you look for the record of a chin based on its individual letter and number.

ETA: These are the letters from the alphabet not used by the U.S. ranching system:
W,O,G, I, Q, U, and Y

Canada's system uses the "U" which is about the only difference between the two lettering systems. "Y" is not used in our system because it looks a lot like "V" when hand written, it's hard to distinguish between the two. "W" also resembles "V" too much, "o" looks like "0" and the others should be obvious. ;)
 
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The letter indicates the year the chinchilla was born, the number is the order it was born (1st, 2nd, 25th, 1011th, etc) in that year. This year is Z, last year was X, next year will be A. I think this letter/numbering system was established by ECBC and is also used by the MCBA. I think a lot of breeders adopt this system even if they aren't members of either organization.

So, Z45 was the 45th kit born this year to whoever it was the bred it. X16 was the sixteenth kit born in 2009 to that kit's breeder.

ETA: I'm never fast enough. =p *pokes Tab*
 
Just to add...when paired with the ranch brand this number gives each animal a unique identification so you know who bred that animal and what year he/she was born. If you contact the breeder, based on the number they should be able to give you more information about the animal...that is if they've been keeping good records.

So say I sell an animal this year with the identification MARF Z10. That animal is sold again in a few years, but the pedigree doesn't make it to the new owner. As long as they have the animals number, I can look it up and send them a new copy of the pedigree.

In 19 years there may be another animal with the same ID, but its not likely that the older animal will still be alive and in breeding.
 
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