Ear Tags

[groveman14]

Many folks here in Central Florida don't brand but use ear tags. I have two questions about them. First, the "button tags" seem to come off very often. I have heard that there is one that won't unless the ear is really damaged, but don't know what to ask for. Also, how do you guys decide which numbers to use to identify your herd. (colors, sizes, or? thanx for your help.

 

[Bullbuyer]

I use a combination of numbers and letters which mean nothing to anyone except me. I am unaware of any standardized numbering system. Could use a normal spreadsheet would be easy to track them on - A1, A2, B1, B2, etc.

 

[Dusty Britches]

We we decided to use ear tags, we based our ear tag color after looking at the neighbor's colors. We didn't want the color they were using.

I also picked ear notches based off that.

We are all running commercial black Brangus cows with black Angus bulls.

Numbers ? We started with one method, now we just use the sequence.

We use Alflex. We divide the ear into 3 hortizontal, 3 vertical imaginary lines. The tag goes in the middle of those. We've never lost a tag.

 

[Texan]

First, the "button tags" seem to come off very often. I have heard that there is one that won't unless the ear is really damaged, but don't know what to ask for.

The one-piece tags are called Z-Tags. I've never used any, but I know that several people on here have used them. A search on "z-tags" turns up nine hits. Here's a link to their site:

http://www.ztags.com/



By the way....

Many folks here in Central Florida don't brand but use ear tags.

For deterring theft and proving ownership, there is no substitution for hot-iron branding!

 

[randiliana]

First off, I would mention that as good as eartags are for ID, they aren't fool or tamper proof. I have yet to see a tag that couldn't be removed, even the little metal ones can be. For permanant ID a brand is best, it can't be removed.

Now, having said that, for in herd ID, tags IMO can't be beat. We use Y-tex tags, and rarely have a problem with lost tags. If we do have a lost one it is almost always due to twine.

We simply tag them in order 1,2,3,4.... Usually in the order they come down the chute. We also reuse the tags, and numbers, so if we cull someone we will use her number in a heifer or something that we bought.

For extra ID, I have been using metal tags with an individual # for each animal. That way if we have 2 look alike cows without tags I can crossreference them. I have started to tattoo all our heifers with a year letter and number so that will replace the metal tags.

For our calves, we color code them according to sex, and whether they are lease calves or our own calves. The calves recieve the same number at birth that their mother has for ease at sorting time. When we wean we remove all the herd ID tags from anything going to the sale barn. Any heifer that we keep will just get a random (leftover) number. All our sale animals are also tagged with RFID tags.

 

[msscamp]

Many folks here in Central Florida don't brand but use ear tags.

In my mind, that is just plain foolish - ear tags are far too easy to remove and nowhere near permanent.

I have two questions about them. First, the "button tags" seem to come off very often. I have heard that there is one that won't unless the ear is really damaged, but don't know what to ask for.

Sounds like Z-Tags.

Also, how do you guys decide which numbers to use to identify your herd. (colors, sizes, or? thanx for your help.

Color and size are whatever we choose to use - but usually picked for readability, and our numbers are individual registration tatoo numbers. If the animal is not registered, then we use pre-numbered tags and simply pick a number.

 

[jcarkie]

i use red tags for my cows and reuse #'s as i replace and cull.
i use a different color or each calf crop and match the calf # to the cow # this year is yellow, next year is green. i put heifer calves in the right ear and steers in the left. i use prenumbered tags, duflex brand.

 

[Dave]

I give the calves the same number as the cows. I went to using write your own # tags for the calves as the cows numbers are all over the place. I use to cut off tags on cows I bought and put in a new tag to match mine. I stopped doing that. If I buy a cow with #342 and I don't already have a 342 I just leave it there. Write my own tags for the calves are cheaper and I save money on cow tags.
Dave