Ear Tag Color

[JW IN VA]

I'm just interested in what others do and why.Sometimes you learn that way.

We started with orange in 1975.Never imagined Dad would pick that color but he was thinking visibility to hunters on our rented land.I use Orange still today even though I have changed brands several times.
Have used green and yellow in the sheep as well as white and tag calves with white some years.Most of us in the valley use a different color or at least don't use the same as our next neighbor.One of mine uses green and another used red although the last he bought have green.

 

[A.J.]

I've had good luck with the Z tags. We use the orange ones. They stand out good and it's different color from the neighbors.

 

[slick4591]

I drove around the country and looked at the colors everyone else was using. I didn't see blue so I bought blue Z tags. I'm still the only one using blue that I've seen.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

I prefer the yellow with black numbers. I find them easier to see and read. Years ago I tried red tags, had a few blue. I found the very large yellow tags work best for me. 2 of my "neighbors" rarely ever use tags, and the 1 or 2 tags I have seen, were small, red or blue.

 

[torogmc81]

Orange on heifers (from birth), blue for the bull calves. Any of our ladies from before 2016 still have their red tags on

 

[Brute 23]

I tag cows with yellow tags but calves get different colors based on which property they came from. My personal cows have baby blue tags so they stand out from the others. To me... the yellow ones are the easiest for me to read. The yellow back contrast shows up best for me.

 

[JW IN VA]

I think,if I was going to change, I'd probably use yellow or white.As Katherine said,the black numbers would show up better.Doubt I'll change.the Orange has worked for 40 plus years.

 

[Ky hills]

I started out using orange back in 89. I had read somewhere that that orange was the most visible color, and figured that would be the best. Fast forward to now, still using orange for our calves, and purchased calves, but have changed to blue for the cowherd as that is my wife's favorite color.

 

[MRRherefords]

Yellow on all for us. Used to be red then letters got hard to read.

 

[WalnutCrest]

Blue for fullblood Aubracs.
Yellow for fullblood Mashona.
Light Green for F1s (yellow and blue make green).

Now that we'll have some F1 Aubrac x. Jersey, those may be white (for the milk) ???

The heifers get a tag in their left ear. Bulls with a tag in their right ear. Numbers are sequential by year, with the BIF lettercode at the front. The first calf this year is F01; sex determines which ear. This is their number for life.

 

[M-5]

Red , is my favorite, all ladies look sexy in red.

 

[Aaron]

Always had yellow for cows - easiest to read and stands out at quite a distance. Eventually went to differentiate heifer and bull/steer calves with pink and blue, like in a nursery. Pink is not as easy to read as yellow, so went back to yellow on heifers.

Neighbor had different color tags for each owner, so husband, wife and each of 3 boys had different color. Green was by far the worst to read with black ink. Red was ok with white paint.

 

[Dave]

I use yellow on cows. Red and blue on calves. Blue of bulls and red on heifers. Once I get moved I will look at what the neighbors use and go with a different color. Cows on BLM range get mixed so having different colors makes them easier to sort.

 

[Nesikep]

Whatever I feel like.. Red is alright, Black with white lettering looks good too.. Using Z tags right now because that's what's readily available and I get a free tagger with every 100 tags.. I like the tagger too.

 

[TCRanch]

Anal poster child, here. Original set of bred cows we bought had light green tags. Their calves have white. Calves from retained heifers with white tags have yellow. Calves from retained heifers the next year had blue. The next year was orange, then dark green, then purple, then red, this year is pink. Other than black, I've run out of colors & will have to start over next year. Heifers are tagged in the left year, bull calves/steers in the right. So I can scan the pasture & easily identify the calves based on the color & placement of their tag (plus individual marking/characteristics).

 

[1wlimo]

Green on calves, left ear for heifers, right ear for bulls. Then all cows in yellow, as yellow is easier to read. My own bought in heifers have blue tags that are not as easy to read, and some others have red. The red tags read nearly as easy as the yellow.