I.D. Questions

[VtMapleGal]

So for me to keep track of my whole herd of 14 cows i just name them all. I know a few years from now though, its going to be easier to have another method. Do most of you tattoo or tag? We had a jersey steer calf who at about a year old got infection in his tag and i removed it. Is this often a problem?

 

[hillsdown]

It is mandatory in Canada that every animal has an RFID tag, also you need to premise ID and keep immaculate records..If I were you I would contact your county AG rep and find exactly what you need (mandatory) and go the extra step. Keep immaculate records of every animal including all health records..BTW if you clean the ear with rubbing alcohol it should never become infected.
We also tattoo every thing but that is a breed regulation..

You can still name them all...

 

[Keren]

Mine get:

An ear tag with their ID number on the front, their mum and dad's number/name on the back
The compulsory NLIS ear tag
A tattoo (in case the tag ever falls out or has to be removed, I always know who it is)
A name - cos I like em to have names

Infected ears dont happen very often, but they do happen. usually when I've had it, the animal has got the tag caught on a fence or something, torn the ear a little and thus allowed the infection to set up. We cut the tag out of them, spray a bit of antiseptic on, and leave them for a couple months then they are usually fine, you can get them in and put a new tag through the old hole normally, or just make a new hole in that ear or the other one, depending on how bad it was

 

[Workinonit Farm]

All of mine get tags. The only ones with tattoos are the ones with Bang's tags. I also keep 'cow-cards' for each brood-cow. I also have a record for each year of who calved, when, what sex, the tag# for its calf, birth weight etc. all this info is also included on the 'cow-cards' and on a sheet of notebook paper for those 'at-a-glance' moments.

Where I work each animal has an EID button as well as numbered ear-tag. Bangs tagged animals also have tattoos. The calves are given an initial tag at birth indicating date, dam and bull, then re-tagged at weaning with different numbers. All the info is processed into/on a software program (not sure which they use).

Katherine

 

[jcarkie]

i tag cows with a large red tag in the right ear. calves get a tag matching cows number but a different color for the year this year purple.heifers right ear, steers left ear. bulls are all #50 but whatever color the year they enter the herd. we name some, mostly heifers we have raised or my grandkids name them, one is milk shake, some by color blonde, silver, penny, some like snow mama, has had her calves in the snow the first 2 years, this year the day before the ice storm.

 

[cowman30]

Just tag the calves when we work em. Then we go into the pasture over the course of a month or so and observe which calf is nursing which cow and right the cow and calf tag # down. Then it is all put in a spread sheet.

 

[Latta]

Do you have to ear tag your steers? I buy calves direct from the farm and sell finished to the sale barn or direct market. This year however I will be selling feeder Holstein calves to the sale barn. The only information on their tags is their name and date of birth.
Latta

 

[LoveMoo11]

Mine all have names but they have tags and tattoos too. The tattoos are neccessary for registration purposes and are also handy if a tag falls off and you don't know who it is (but that wouldn't be a problem for you since you only have 14). But tags are also helpful when you are working with someone who doesn't know your animals or showing your animals to someone. You can say "look at #12" instead of saying "that one over there...no, the other one" :lol:

 

[dun]

Except for a couple, Granny for instance, I go by their ear tag the wife uses names. She can;t remember who K468 is but she knew her name.
The registered calves that are good enough quality to be kept as breeders are tattooed.

 

[Keren]

forgot to say, with my tattooing, the purebreds/registered animals get the full tattoo, which has the herd ID and individual ID, partly because its a requirement for registering them, and partly because its easier to tell who is who if the tag is lost.

With my commercial unreg females, the ones I am going to retain as breeders also get the full tattoo, just because I like to keep track of individual records, and so its a permanent form of id if the tag is lost.

But, with the commercial females to be sold on as breeders, and the males and females which are headed for slaughter, I just give them a quick tattoo with the herd ID only. Reason being, tattoo is a permanent ID form which shows that those animals are MINE. If they get out, or heaven forbid are stolen, and someone is trying to claim them as their own, well its pretty easy to cut an ear tag out and replace it, but you cant get rid of the tattoo unless you cut their ear off (and thats pretty obvious).

 

[I luv herfrds]

We tag at birth with the first number being the year they are bone and the order they are born in. (901) started this year. We tag the heifers in the right ear and the steers in the left, we can tell them apart in the pasture much better even if we can't read the tags from a distance. They are tattooed in the ear without the tag. All info is entered in a herd book, software program and written on the calender.

 

[dun]

All you folks tagging and Iding calves must be seedstock producers. I have it on good authority that commercial breeders don;t care about things like that.

 

[hillsdown]

All you folks tagging and Iding calves must be seedstock producers. I have it on good authority that commercial breeders don;t care about things like that.

:???: :?

 

[Workinonit Farm]

All you folks tagging and Iding calves must be seedstock producers. I have it on good authority that commercial breeders don;t care about things like that.

:lol: :lol: You're funny.

The only 'seed-stock' I'm producing is for the slaughterhouse and a few freezers. :lol:

Pretty much the same deal where I work.

Katherine

 

[redluv]

Our cows are tagged 4 different colors, 3 different colors according to breed and one color for crosses, and are all freeze branded with their number on the opposite side of the tag (easier to read in the pasture). The calves are tagged the same color and number as mom when they are born. After weaning and deciding who is kept as a bull or replacement, the ones kept get re-tagged, tattooed, and freeze branded with new numbers.

 

[I luv herfrds]

Dun who told you that?
We raise commercial Herefords and we keep all the info on our cattle as we can.

 

[msscamp]

So for me to keep track of my whole herd of 14 cows i just name them all. I know a few years from now though, its going to be easier to have another method. Do most of you tattoo or tag? We had a jersey steer calf who at about a year old got infection in his tag and i removed it. Is this often a problem?

Registered cows were tagged and tatooed with the number assigned by the association. Non-registered cows were tagged with individual numbers. Calves were tagged with their mothers number at/soon after birth. All replacement heifer calves that were later registered were tagged and tatooed with the number assigned by the association. If they were not registered they were simply tagged with their own individual number. We kept track of previous tag numbers on all animals.

 

[dun]

Dun who told you that?
We raise commercial Herefords and we keep all the info on our cattle as we can.

posting.php?mode=quote&f=8&p=650000

 

[farmwriter]

We tag when we vaccinate/castrate.
All steers get a small tag, number usually based on mother's number. e.g. cow 501 has steer w/small tag 1.
Heifers get large tag w/3 digit number. e.g. - cow 704 has heifer w/large tag 904, first number reflects birth year.
We bought a few heifers last year, so I put a small letter over their numbers to keep clear who wasn't born here.
It's not a perfect system, though. We breed to a blk angus bulls, so sometimes we get a couple of those solid black calves mixed up, but within a couple of days, riding through the pasture we get our numbers recorded properly.
Depending on how many of the heifers we decide to keep, this also throws a kink in the system. e.g.
When both 501 and 601 have a heifer in the same year, whichever heifer is tagged second doesn't get mother's number, but a number of her own.
We also have a single, registered farm brand as theft deterent, but we don't brand until well after weaning.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Dun who told you that?

posting.php?mode=quote&f=8&p=650000

:roll: :roll:

I can certainly understand that under some circumstances, waayyy out on miles of rangeland, ranchers may not have an exact DOB and BW etc. But its a pretty safe bet that some of them will know the weaning weights.

Katherine