How does one separate maaser from them? He gathers them into a pen, and makes a small opening for them, so that two cannot exit at once. He [then] counts with a rod: “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine” —- and the [animal] which exits tenth he marks with a red dye, and pronounces: “This one is maaser.” [If] he did not mark it with red dye, or if he did not count them with a rod, or he counted them when they were crouching or standing, they are [nevertheless] counted for maaser. [If] he owned one hundred and took ten, [or he owned] ten and took one, it is not maaser. R’ Yose the son of R’ Yehudah says: This is maaser. [If] one of the counted jumped back into their midst, they are exempt. [If one of the] animals designated as maaser [jumped] into their midst, they must all be left to pasture until they develop blemishes, and may be eaten in their blemished [state] by their owners.

[If] two [animals] exited together, he counts them two by two. [If] he counted them as one, the ninth and tenth are ruined. [If] the ninth and tenth exited together, the ninth and tenth are ruined. [If] he called the ninth [animal] “tenth,” and the tenth one “ninth,” and the eleventh one “tenth,” [all] three of them are consecrated: The ninth may be eaten in its blemished [state], the tenth is maaser, and the eleventh is brought as a shelamim-offering and it can produce a temurah; [these are] the words of R’ Meir. Said R’ Yehudah: Can a temurah produce a temurah? They said in the name of R’ Meir: If it were a temurah, it would not be offered. [If] he called the ninth [one] “tenth,” the tenth [one] “tenth,” and the eleventh [one] “tenth,” the eleventh is not consecrated. This is the rule: As long as the designation “tenth” has not been uprooted from it, the eleventh one is not consecrated.