snoopdog
Well-known member
My cousin swears by ztags, I use allflex, I say its a crap shoot with your terrain and animals. My .02
Ear Tag Brands
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JMJ Farms
Well-known member
Ritchie tags won't fade. But they aren't cheap.
76 Bar
Well-known member
Fading is a fact of life unless you use an etchable tag. Wouldn't work for me. Besides the in herd ID, Sire & dam ID is printed respectively above and below. I use Nesi's ink technique and it does help prolong readability. IMO ...ink adheres far more effectively when the tags are ultra clean e.g. scrub then in the sink with Dawn or wiped with alcohol soaked cotton ball/paper towel and when dried bagged in a zip locked marked "clean". Admittedly far too anal for most but its served me well.
Silver
Well-known member
76 Bar said:
Seems like if you could print it on a tag you could etch it. I'm pretty sure I could etch a lot more info on my tags if I had need of it.
One fella claimed he gave his tags a few seconds in the microwave after writing on them, said it helped draw in the ink. Seemed like a reasonable idea, especially if followed up with another coat of ink.
But I'm glad to be done with ink tags on my females, and won't be going back unless the technology improves dramatically.
76 Bar
Well-known member
Been there, done that. It does seem to bake the ink into the tag but its an art form. Power levels on Micros vary considerably. Best to test on retained screw ups of the same brand. Blink of an eye and at worst you're reduced to scrapping off melted tags and/or permanently curled tags.
I might add, the ink doesn't seem to fade as much on colored tags, the exception seems to be the blue ones. I have tags in literally every color except black.
76 Bar, you just might be more anal than me. Didn't think that was possible! ;-)
76 Bar, you just might be more anal than me. Didn't think that was possible! ;-)
76 Bar
Well-known member
;-)
No contest...never used blue tags... :roll: :roll: ;-) ;-) :lol2: :lol2:
T & B farms
Well-known member
Ive been using z tag feedlot tags in calves because they are cheap. They pretty much suck. Lucky if they make it to weaning. Cows all get double allflex super maxi's. Very rarely loose one of them, I have some going on 7 years with both tags still in.
Butterbean_Farms
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I have used y-tex and z-tags and never had a problem loosing either. I prefer the z-tags, because I always have to fully seat the button thing on the y-tex by hand to keep them from falling off, and that is jist one more thing to do while the cow is in the squeeze chute. I like how you pull the z-tag qun away too.
Nesikep
Well-known member
If you want to soften the tag before writing, try carb cleaner or "Gunwash" (for paint guns).. Something with MEK, xylene, acetone, etc.. I've been able to remove writing from tags with that and rewrite them (there's a bit of ghost imaging there.. don't care that much), Jury is out on if the printing will last longer that way
Bcompton53
Well-known member
I seem to lose way less z tags than ytex button tags.
I know this is slightly off topic but it's something I learned accidentally in haste. Tagging pens are not created equal. I once bought a ytag pen thinking it would be of same quality (slow fading) as the allflex pen. Boy was I wrong. I ended up ordering an all flex the very next season and using the ytag as a shop marker. Maybe it was just the one I got but also maybe not...
farmerjan
Well-known member
Have the most fading from the all flex pen. Using a y-tex pen now and liking it better. Last year all the green and yellow tags faded so don't think it is the pen so much as the tags themselves. Went to pre printed numbers this year to see if it is better.
