All consecrated animals whose permanent blemish preceded their consecration, and which were redeemed —- are subject to the laws of bechor and the gifts [due the Kohen], and they revert to mundane status [even] to [the extent that they may] be shorn and put to work, their offspring and their milk are permissible after their redemption, one who slaughters them outside [the Temple Courtyard] is not liable, they do not effect temurah, and if they died [prior to their redemption] they may be redeemed; except for the bechor- and the maaser-offering.

All [consecrated animals] whose consecration preceded their blemish, or whose temporary blemish [preceded] their consecration, and a permanent blemish developed in them afterward, and they were redeemed —- are exempt from the laws of bechor and from the gifts [due the Kohen], and they do not revert to mundane status to [the extent that they may] be shorn and put to work, their offspring and their milk are prohibited after their redemption, one who slaughters them outside [the Temple Courtyard] is liable, they effect temurah, and if they died they must be buried.

[If] one receives animals at their fixed value from a non-Jew, the offspring are exempt [from the law of bechor], but the offspring of that offspring are liable. [If] he put the offspring in place of their mothers, the offspring of the offspring are exempt [from the law of bechor], but the offspring of the offspring of that offspring are subject [to it]. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Even up to ten generations, they are exempt [from the law of bechor], because the non-Jew has a lien on them.

[If] a ewe bore [an offspring resembling] a goat, or [if] a goat bore [an offspring resembling] a ewe, it is exempt from the law of bechor. But if it retains some characteristics, it is subject [to the law of bechor].

[If] a ewe which had not previously given birth bore two males, and their two heads emerged simultaneously —- R’ Yose HaGlili says: Both belong to a Kohen, since it is stated, the males are to HASHEM. The Sages, however, say: It is impossible; rather one [lamb] is his and one goes to a Kohen. R’ Tarfon says: The Kohen selects the better one for himself. R’ Akiva says: The fatter one is at issue between them, while the second [one] is left to pasture until it develops a blemish, and it is subject to the law of gifts [to the Kohen]. R’ Yose exempts [it].  [If] one of them died —- R’ Tarfon says: They divide. R’ Akiva says: The burden of proof lies on the one who seeks to exact [something] from the other. [If] a male and a female [were born first], there is nothing here for a Kohen.

[If] two ewes which had not previously given birth bore two males —- he gives them both to a Kohen; [if they bore] a male and a female, the male belongs to a Kohen.  [If they bore] two males and a female, one belongs to him and one to a Kohen. R’ Tarfon says: The Kohen selects the better one for himself. R’ Akiva says: The fatter one is at issue between them, while the second [lamb] is left to pasture until it develops a blemish, and it is subject to the law of gifts [to the Kohen]. R’ Yose exempts [it].  [If] one of them died —- R’ Tarfon says: They divide. R’ Akiva says: The burden of proof lies on the one who seeks to exact [something] from the other.  [If they bore] two females and a male, or two males and two females, there is nothing here for a Kohen.

[If] one which had previously given birth and one which had not previously given birth [now] bore two males —- one belongs to him and one goes to a Kohen. R’ Tarfon says: The Kohen selects the better one for himself. R’ Akiva says: The fatter one is at issue between them, while the second [lamb] is left to pasture until it develops a blemish, and it is subject to the law of gifts [to the Kohen]. R’ Yose exempts [it]; for R’ Yose was wont to say: Whatever has its substitute in the Kohen’s hand is exempt from the law of gifts [to the Kohen]. R’ Meir rules [it] subject [to the gifts].  [If] one of them died —- R’ Tarfon says: They divide. R’ Akiva says: The burden of proof lies on the one who seeks to exact [something] from the other.  [If they bore] a male and a female, there is nothing here for a Kohen.

An [animal] born by Caesarean section and the one that follows it —- R’ Tarfon says: Both must be left to pasture until they develop blemishes, and they may be eaten with their blemish by their owner. R’ Akiva says: Neither one is a bechor; the first, because it did not open the womb, and the second, because it was preceded by another.

[If] one buys an animal from a non-Jew, and it is not known whether it had borne its first [offspring] or not —- R’ Yishmael says: [The offspring of] a goat in its first year certainly belongs to a Kohen, from here on it is questionable; [the offspring of] a ewe in its second year certainly belongs to a Kohen, from here on it is questionable; [the offspring of] a cow or donkey in its third year certainly belongs to a Kohen, from here on it is questionable. R’ Akiva said to him: If offspring alone would exempt the animal, it would be as you say; but they said: The sign of offspring in small livestock [is] a womb-discharge; and in large livestock, an amniotic sac; and in a woman, an embryo or an amnioti sac. This is the rule: [With] any [animal] known to have previously borne its first, the Kohen receives nothing; and [with] any one that had not borne its first, this [first male offspring] belongs to the Kohen; if it is questionable, it may be eaten in its blemished [state] by the owner.  R’ Eliezer ben Yaakov says: [If] a large livestock animal discharges a mass of congealed blood, it must be buried, and it is exempt from the laws of bechor.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: [If] one buys a nursing animal from a non-Jew, he need not suspect that it was the offspring of another animal. [If] he entered among his flock and saw that those that had just borne for the first time were nursing, and that those that had previously given birth were nursing [as well], he need not suspect that the offspring of this one came to that one, or that the offspring of that one came to this one.

R’ Yose ben Meshullam says: [If] one slaughters a bechor he may make a space for a butcher’s hatchet on either side, and pluck the hair, provided that he does not dislodge it from its place. The same [is true for] one who plucks the hair to observe the place of a blemish.