Cow tag info

[Boog337]

We have been going back and forth on a permanent system to our tag identification. We have donors white tags and recips on orange but we are wanting to tag calves with a system to know birthdate.. Dam. Sire… and only have to see tag to know.
We have been using the initial of sire and number from dam with A-L for month born.
I'm interested to see anyone else's tagging system. And if others out more info on them or less.
Thanks

 

[Hogfarmer10]

I use different colored tags to identify my different sires. (Blue for Bo, orange for Chester, green for Murphy, etc). Easy enough to write birthdate on 1 edge of tag and dam # on other edge of tag. That's just my system

 

[TCRanch]

My tagging system is a cluster only I understand. Original cows we bought were numbered 1-33 and they had green tags. The first calves they had were 1-A and so on with white tags, heifers tagged on the left, bull calves tagged on the right. Which segued into 1-A's first calf was 101, etc. and those calves had yellow tags. Fast forward many years and each number is a derivative of the original cow purchased and subsequent lineage. Tag colors: each year the 1st calf heifers get a new color (until I run out of available Y-Tex colors and start over). Back of the tag had the ranch logo, date of birth, calf number and name (yes, they're all named, don't judge ). See? It's a cluster. But I can scan the pasture and generally identify my cattle from a distance, including physical attributes.

 

[coachg]

Different colored tags for different owners , son , daughter , me. I put year 24 then cow # . Sire on top of tag . Ram for Rampage ; Rain for Raindance, But for Butkus

 

[Chuckie]

Quick and sloppy; We use Z Tags. 217 means second heifer born in year 2017. Lucy is her name Atlas is her sire, and 313 is her mother. I keep a notebook on all the cows for details.

 

[farmerjan]

My heifers get white, son's heifers get green, all bull calves get orange or yellow... bulls get cow's number. We usually start with the year and then the cow's number... if they are kept heifers for replacements, then they get a 2nd tag and sire gets added to tag if son is not in a rush when they are going through the chute.
I keep everything written down.

 

[libertygarden]

Posting to follow.

 

[Silver]

Heifers are the white tags. Heifer is numbered in order of birth. So 58H was the 58th heifer born in year H. Above that is the dam, 99D. It would be easy to arrange it to add the sire, say vertically down one side. Using the order of birth for the heifers number is kind of like a birthdate, you'll know about how many were born in the first cycle so from there you can get pretty close on DOB.
The orange tags in the picture are steers, they just get their mother's number. Could put a birth date above it easy enough.

 

[circlebllc]

I also learned not to fill out tags until it is on the ground and alive.

 

[Travlr]

One color tag, left ear for females, right for males. Numbered same as cow.

Index cards with date of birth, etc.

 

[Springfieldsimm]

We just number it with the cows number with A behind it and the birthdate above. So it's easy to tell what calf belongs to which cow. We tried one year to do bulls in one ear and heifers in the other but could never remember which one was supposed to be in which so now we just try to put them all in the same side. If we keep heifers, somewhere between breeding and calving we put new tags in. I attached a pic but it's hard to see.

 

[HatCreekCattleco]

I decided I don't have enough cows to mess with all that. I can usually tell you what calf belongs to who pretty easily. The buyers at the barn don't pay any more for ear tags either.

 

[TCRanch]

View attachment 39514We just number it with the cows number with A behind it and the birthdate above. So it's easy to tell what calf belongs to which cow. We tried one year to do bulls in one ear and heifers in the other but could never remember which one was supposed to be in which so now we just try to put them all in the same side. If we keep heifers, somewhere between breeding and calving we put new tags in. I attached a pic but it's hard to see.

This is my 4-A with her 12th calf last year.

 

[Dave]

No elaborate system here. One and done cows get numbered in the order they were bought. Calves get the same number as the cows. Lots of people around here get custom printed tags with their phone number on the tag and possibly their name. That makes it easier to find their way home if they go walk about.

 

[Ebenezer]

Plain numbers in the ears. Next calf, next number. Records tell the info.

 

[Silver]

I hate the thought of having to pull the herd book out to get basic info that could so easily incorporated into the tagging system.

 

[GoWyo]

Calves get same number as the dam. We sort and haul to 2-3 different summer pastures so when putting trailer loads together need to be able to match calves to cows.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Same # as Mom and a letter for year . Anything else and I'm confused.