numbering system each calf

[jbar]

would like to know whats being used and any ideas on starting one .i am thinking of useing a letter to rep. year like a=2006,b=2007,c=2008ect. and useing numbers from the cows ear tag. this will all be done while the calves are still wet hopfully example calves tag #a214
a=2006
2=second calf from this cow
14= cows tag number
anybody see forth coming problems? only thing i can think of is numbers might get long. :cboy:

 

[mitchwi]

be fine up to the the 99th cow....then you start adding another digit........cuz if the 2nd calf of 14 is a214, then when she has a calf ... e1214? this system just doesn't work....sure someone has better.........

 

[MikeC]

2006 is an "S"

http://www.beefimprovement.org/guidelines/App2-2.PDF

 

[jbar]

thanks for replys.would more input from someone using some kind of system :cboy: thanks again

 

[TR]

I use the corresponding letter for the year the calf was born....R=2005, S=2006, and the mother's number. Example, Cow 301 calved in 2005 so calf is tagged R301. Guess you could put a number after that to designate what number calf it is ....R301-1

 

[jcarkie]

i use red for my cows and if i keep a heifer i change her to red. i keep my father-in-laws and his cows are orange.all numbers are differnt (1-12 father-in law,13-24 my cows)as i add numbers i go higher he stays with low numbers. I use a different color for the year, this year is yellow and the tag number matches cow. all the calves are yellow, steers left ear, heifers right ear.

 

[rwtherefords]

I use the Z-tags you write on. I have 3 pieces of info on each tag. The Sire's ID number is on top, the Dam's ID number is in the middle, and the calf's ID number is on the bottom. So the first 2006 calf from my 70N bull bred to 3P, would look like this:

70N
3P
1S

This system makes it easy to tell which animal came from which parents for the animals lifetime.

 

[Scotty]

Some asign the sire a number. Like Rito 6i6 is the i sire. His calves would be like DCC Rito Prime 1(2001 the year it was born) i (the sire letter) 5(the fifth calve born to that sire) = DCC Rito Prime 1i5. I own one of 1i5 daughters. 1i5 is given the letter H. his daughter is DCC Rita 3H5 of 1i5 1A12. 1A12 is the dam of 3H5. What ever you do just be consistant.


Scotty

 

[ranchmgr]

I use the Z-tags you write on. I have 3 pieces of info on each tag. The Sire's ID number is on top, the Dam's ID number is in the middle, and the calf's ID number is on the bottom. So the first 2006 calf from my 70N bull bred to 3P, would look like this:

70N
3P
1S

This system makes it easy to tell which animal came from which parents for the animals lifetime.

Same system we use on ytex tags, biggest downfall is fading ink, have yet to find one to last over about a year and then have to go over the writing again.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I use the Z-tags you write on. I have 3 pieces of info on each tag. The Sire's ID number is on top, the Dam's ID number is in the middle, and the calf's ID number is on the bottom. So the first 2006 calf from my 70N bull bred to 3P, would look like this:

70N
3P
1S

I use similar, only Sire, Calf, then Dam. I tried numbering the calves the same as the mother(with a -X where X was the number of calves that dam had birthed), but I have 3 cows in my commercial herd, #69, #55, and #76 that threw the best calves every single year, and whenever they had a heifer, she was a keeper. I had several 69s, a few 55s and a couple 76s. When I ended up with a calf #69-2-1-1, I knew I'd went too far :lol:

Rod

 

[msscamp]

Same system we use on ytex tags, biggest downfall is fading ink, have yet to find one to last over about a year and then have to go over the writing again.

Frenchie posted about baking the tags on low heat to prevent the numbers fading a little while back. Might try that.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I was talking to my vet about the tag numbering and fading. Fearing sells a bottled ink, which he uses on his own tags for his animals. He tells me to give it 24 hrs drying time in the house, and it'll last for years and years (its guaranteed to last the life of the tag). He thought maybe the baking idea would make it last even longer, but suggested I wait until it was completely dry.

 

[rwtherefords]

I use the Z-tags you write on. I have 3 pieces of info on each tag. The Sire's ID number is on top, the Dam's ID number is in the middle, and the calf's ID number is on the bottom. So the first 2006 calf from my 70N bull bred to 3P, would look like this:

70N
3P
1S

This system makes it easy to tell which animal came from which parents for the animals lifetime.

Same system we use on ytex tags, biggest downfall is fading ink, have yet to find one to last over about a year and then have to go over the writing again.

Z-tags hold their ink better than some others. I started using Z-tags a little over 3 years ago. All of my original Z-tags are still VERY legible. I mark them with the Z-tag marker pen also.

 

[jbar]

dose anyone use the tags you engrave with a dremmel . a man gave me some of these when he got out of the cattle biz. but i havnt use any of thrm yet. trying to get a number system so i can engrave themm ahead of time :cboy:

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I used the Ritchie engraveable. Good tags, but I don't like ear tags (except the small steel ones) as they just don't have a good retention rate around here. I wouldn't recommend engraving ahead of time, as there is always a chance of losing a calf, then you've wasted a tag.

Rod

 

[Scotty]

dose anyone use the tags you engrave with a dremmel . a man gave me some of these when he got out of the cattle biz. but i havnt use any of thrm yet. trying to get a number system so i can engrave themm ahead of time :cboy:

Depending on how many bulls you run the sytem I talked of you can use. It does not matter bull or heifer. Just year, heard sire number and the calve born to that sire in order of birth. I used to make ahead of time matching ones according to the cows. When she calved it got the same number as her.


Scotty

 

[Dana Kopp]

We use all Z write on tags. Our heifers all get a cow size white tag. On the top of the front of the tag I write the dam's number (small) and beneath it I write the calf's individual number. The calf number is it's number born & the last digit of the year i.e. the fourth calf born was 45, thirty-fifth was 355. On the back of the tag I put my "code" for the sire - usually the first letter of his name or tag # and then below that on the left corner the date the calf was born. We always tag in the left ear so that date can be seen. In this way any of our heifers are ready to be "keepers" without having to re-tag and all pertinent info is right there.

Our steers get a calf size red tag. The only difference in tagging is that I swap the placement of the cow# and Calf# on the front of the tag. Since we pretty much sell all the steer calves their individual number doesn't really come into play too much so after experimenting with which info we use more we decided to make the cow's number larger basically for sorting purposes.
When we first started out with our herd we had a slightly different system, I incorporated the cow's number directly intot the calf number but as we started to grow and keep heifers that got too cumbersome. I sat down and penciled out how different systems would work including keeping heifers and their future calves.

 

[jt]

there probably is not one way that will work for all, but one system i have considered is..

first number being the last number of the year..... 6 for 2006.

then a letter for the month. a = jan, b=feb, etc

and then a number for the calf. it can be the cows number, 1,2,3, etc or whatever.

i am sure it has some drawbacks.. they all do. like a possible duplicate cow number in 10 years, but the plus side as i see it, would be that i would know the age... month and year of any animal on the place, just by their tag.. on the duplicate problem, if any, i figure i could tell a 3 year old versus a 13, especially if that cow has been around that long and given the fact that i am not on a large scale operation.

i know some will say, why not use the letter for the year.. like r for 2005.. well, that is a good way too, IF you can remember all those letters.. there is no correlation between the r and 2005... r is the 18th letter of the alphabet... i see a 5 and i know right away what the year is. the letters for the months are pretty simple.. e is the 5th, thus it would stand for may, the 5th month, etc. that is easier for me to remember.

just a thought.

jt

 

[badroute]

Some good ideas on here. I like to use a good Allflex or YTex tag on my bred heifers and cows. Bred heifers this year got numbers that startted with a 4 as they were born in 2004. First heifer was 401 and so on until I got to the 100th bred heifer then it was 4100, 4101, 4102.........4200, 4201, 4202 and so on. I do this the same way every year.

When it comes calving time I give the calf the same eartag number as the mother only I use Z tags for the calves. They are easy and you dont have to fiddle with a button. I cant count how many times I have chased after a calf and lost the button in the process.

Another thing I do that works extremely well for me is tag the heifer calves in the left ear and the steer calves in the right ear. This makes sorting at delivery time very simple. I kick myself for not doing that sooner.

 

[jt]

Some good ideas on here. I like to use a good Allflex or YTex tag on my bred heifers and cows. Bred heifers this year got numbers that startted with a 4 as they were born in 2004. First heifer was 401 and so on until I got to the 100th bred heifer then it was 4100, 4101, 4102.........4200, 4201, 4202 and so on. I do this the same way every year.

When it comes calving time I give the calf the same eartag number as the mother only I use Z tags for the calves. They are easy and you dont have to fiddle with a button. I cant count how many times I have chased after a calf and lost the button in the process.

Another thing I do that works extremely well for me is tag the heifer calves in the left ear and the steer calves in the right ear. This makes sorting at delivery time very simple. I kick myself for not doing that sooner.

badroute, that is exactly how i am numbering most of mine now.. last year, it was 501,502 etc, but i was wanting to somehow get the month in there too. people looking at the calves ask, when was that one born? and i cant always remember.. :lol:

jt