Tagging new calves

[Highpoint]

My name should have been the caregiver instead high point We now have six calves and only three are tagged thanks to the cow hand. This is my first year and I have wondered why the tags. Right now it is impossible to tell who is exactly the mom of two of them because two nurse the same cow. Can you share with this newby why this is so important.

I'm hoping no question is too stupid.

 

[Son of Butch]

It's only important if it's important to you.
We tag all, including all the feeders we buy for ease of identification and record keeping.
Otherwise tracking who was treated or pulling for treatment or even just sorting is so very difficult.

If you only have a dozen it should be easy to identify them from memory, but apparently you already can't tell them apart.
Maybe if you get a scale you could identify them by size
ie the Red calf is 200 lbs heavier than the Black calf.

 

[Nesikep]

Mostly because if you have good calves, you want to know which cow raised them so you keep her heifers.. Likewise for the one that doesn't raise good calves, you can get rid of her... Doesn't need to be anything fancy, you can go a bit smaller than the "Maxi" size tags.. It's just recordkeeping... and being able to indicate to someone else what cow you're referring to... If they are all black, how are you going to tell someone to get "Bessie"... a tag fixes that problem.. get #32

 

[TCRanch]

No question is too stupid. And I agree with the above. We tag all calves day 1 or 2 when they're still easy to catch for proper identification and diligent tracking/record keeping. If it's important to you have you conveyed that to your cowhand?

 

[backhoeboogie]

Some fool runs off the road, drives thru your fence, you have to round up cows and calves at 3 a.m. How do you know if you have the paired back up without tags ? How do you know who is missing ?

Like said above, You have a calf that doesn't grow out as good as it should, how do you know which cow is not providing ?

You're working cows and you can't get the one calf in the pen, how do you know which calf has not been inoculated ?

You have a cow calving every 11 months, and you want to keep her genetics. How do you know which calf is hers ?

You keep 15 heifers each year and 12 years from now you have to cull 20. How do you know which ones are the oldest ?

Somebody comes out to buy 10 pair and start asking about the age of each cow, how do you know how old she is if she's not tagged and recorded ?

I could go on and on. Plus what has already been said above. The older you get the worse your memory gets. Identification and records become valuable.

 

[callmefence]

I'll tag calves with a orange tag that has my phone# when it's possible. If I find the calf still wet it gets tagged then. If it's several days old it won't get tagged sometimes until it's several months old. If I know the dam her # gets put on the back of tag.
When we start bringing calves in to be worked.
They get a white tag in the other ear with a simple# beginning with one. This simply means that calf has been worked. And makes it easy to monitor a calf where a problem has been noted.
Any calves that I end up liking enough to keep will eventually get the white tag replaced with a orange tag and a # that corresponds with the dams #.

 

[Son of Butch]

We tag 1st number month born, last digit year of birth ie 17 = 7
I just assume in 2019 I will be able to tell a 13 yr old 2006 model from a 2016 at a glance.

 

[Farm Fence Solutions]

Y'all need a little longhorn influence in your herds. They tag themselves.

 

[dun]

We just put a small number tag in when first tagged. We keep a list that matches calf tag to a specific cow. If they will be kept as replacements they get a tag with their own ID at weaning. The smaller tags get reused year after year. Steers/bulls right ear, heifers left ear.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

As has been stated above, my cows and calves are tagged for ID purposes for the record keeping. This way I know who belongs to who, vaccination record, de-worming, fly control etc. I tag mine as close to birth as possible, and I will band any bull calves at that time as well.

When I get them penned up for weaning, sales, working etc. I know which one is which and what needs to be done for/with it.

 

[TCRanch]

We just put a small number tag in when first tagged. We keep a list that matches calf tag to a specific cow. If they will be kept as replacements they get a tag with their own ID at weaning. The smaller tags get reused year after year. Steers/bulls right ear, heifers left ear.

Thought I was the only one that did that. Around here most just grab/tag whatever ear is convenient.
Their number is on the front, the back has our ranch initials, date of birth, number and name (yes, I name 'em all; don't judge).

 

[farmerjan]

We tag bulls with yellow or orange and heifers get green for my son's and white if they are from my cows. Since having the joint issues, they will just get a number if they aren't tagged until we get them in at about 6-10 weeks, then I will match the calf to the cow then when it comes time to wean, the ones we keep as replacements will get a number correlated to the dam. We start with the year and go up...17-1 and up. We have 2 friends that buy feeders and they take the tags out and replace with their own set of numbers so we get back all sorts of tags. I wash them and reuse. One year I had a ton of blue tags so all bulls/steers got blue. We work the calves at about 6-10 weeks, blackleg, and usually put all calves of the same sex at a pasture so that when it comes time to gather up and sell, we have all one sex to go. Sometimes when we want a certain cow to go with a certain bull then we have mixed sexes of calves at the same pasture. But agree with all the others.... tags are important for any kind of record keeping. All the farmers in the area know that our adult cows have green or white tags, in at least one ear even if sometimes they still have the tag of another color if they were bought. Had a guy call the other day and said he had 6 cows and a calf in his catch pen, didn't think they were ours since they had red tags but wanted me to go by and make sure since they couldn't find anyone else.....they weren't ours, but..... just having the tags gave us a way to say definitely yes or definitely no....
I keep the records and it makes it easier to just look up when they have a tag, and YES some of ours have names too....

 

[Nesikep]

Steers here don't get a tag, but they do get the (required) RFID button, Heifers get a tag and the button.
I usually do it at a couple days old, or earlier if they're particularly feisty

 

[Son of Butch]

Bought a bred cow that ate snow for the better part of a week before figuring out the ball waterer.
Named her Dumbo. Then her first calf Dumbbell and the next Dim Wit.

Years ago a little neighbor girl had a nearly pure white holstein bull calf she named Snowball.
Then her brothers steered him and she changed his name to No Balls saying and its maiden name was Snowball.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Ironic - I tag all male calves in right ear (yellow tags) and females in left ear (red tags). All have a number related to dams' number plus the year letter (2017 is E).

 

[skeeter swatter]

I tag calves so the cow knows which one is hers. :cowboy:

 

[Highpoint]

Great stuff and explains a great deal and why the cow hand wanted them tagged sooner.

 

[callmefence]

It surprises me most people listed record keeping ahead of proof of ownership.

Most everyone here puts there name and or phone . It's a huge benefit to simply call the owner of a stray or vice versa. We also brand anything that we retain.
If you have a animal leave on you. And whomevers property it ends up on can't locate the owner their only legal solution is to call the sheriff. Once that's done its under impound and you will be required to show proof of ownership.
If your name, number or brand is not there you better have a bill of sale. Identifying photo etc.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

LOL - if it's out of my fence, everyone KNOWS where they belong.
I don't think there is a beef animal within 2 miles of my farm. Not that that is very far. Just different areas have different problems. That is NOT one of mine.
Back to the color of my tags, it makes it a lot easier for potential buyers to walk through the herd and eyeball a calf, and whenever we are sorting, it sure is a lot easier for us.

 

[coachg]

Explain why you guys tag heifers in one ear and Bulls in the other ?