Tagging systems

[bandit80]

Was curious how some of the members tag their newborn calves, and then what tag the calf gets if it is retained as a replacement female. Might be different for registered breeders vs. commercial breeders.


I am a registered cattle breeder. I use the cow's tag number as the baby calf's tag number. If the calf is a heifer and one I want to put back in the herd, she will get her own individual tag number in one year, and get a tag matching her tatoo in the other ear. For example, if a heifer is out of cow number 57, her tatoo would be 8(corresponding to the current year)57U(international year letter code). I like to be able to look at a cow, and know exactly who her dam and sire is. However, I also don't like having a large tag in both ears.

I know some guys who number their baby calves from 1-whatever, and then that is also their tatoo. Just curious if their might be an easier method.

 

[bigbull338]

keepers an non keepers are all tagged the same way.say the calf was born jan 4 2008.then the calves perm id would be 148.using calves bday an year born.

 

[milkmaid]

keepers an non keepers are all tagged the same way.say the calf was born jan 4 2008.then the calves perm id would be 148.using calves bday an year born.

What do you do if multiple calves are born in one day? or if you have calves born exactly 10 years apart? or do your cows not stay longer than 10 years?

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

Same for keepers vs. non-keepers... 100% registered herd

- Tag in the left ear for heifer calves
- Tag in the right ear for bull calves

- Each tag has a 4 digit number which is the last 2 digits of the current year followed by their birth order, above the 4 digit number is the dams number (written smaller)... so a tag in a right ear like this...

0524
0805

...is a bull calf, 5th calf born in 2008, dam is 0524

That way in the pasture it's easy to tell heifer calves from bull calves, easy to sort for bangs vaccination, etc. etc.

Additionally, the heifer calves that we will keep get the corresponding bull tag color in their right ear...

So "Slim" is our white color tag bull --> his daughters have a white small tag on their right ear
"Big Mo" is blue --> his daughters have a blue small tag on their right ear

...this is to ensure that when I do my sort lists for breeding season, it's real easy to see if I made a boo-boo and can be corrected before it's a big boo-boo :? ...hey, it happens.

 

[bigbull338]

keepers an non keepers are all tagged the same way.say the calf was born jan 4 2008.then the calves perm id would be 148.using calves bday an year born.

What do you do if multiple calves are born in one day? or if you have calves born exactly 10 years apart? or do your cows not stay longer than 10 years?

MM im way a head of you.if i have calves born the same day then 1 will get reg #.an 1 will get # with A after the #.an that way it dont get confusing.a keeper bull or heifer with same # shouldnt clash because the bull will be sold.

 

[iowafarmer]

Heifer calf goes in the left and bulls calver get it in their right. The number is the same as the dames and if they are retained they get a different number.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

we run two and sometimes three different brands so we use big straight numbered white tags in cows and heifers for one brand left ear, blue lettered tags in right ear for another and steers ge small cheap tags left or right ear depending on brand. I yank the tags of heifers (and cull cows) that get sold and reuse 'em. Allflex Global.

I don't try to code numbers, just use them straight. I keep note cards and a computer database as well as photos.

 

[novatech]

Moms number on front, Sire number on back. At weaning they get their own number branded on if they are keepers or sold for breeding stock. Everything else is on paper.

 

[RVF]

I am a registered breeder and after trying many different systems have ended up with this one. The dam's number goes on the front of the tag. The calf's tattoo number goes on the back. I use a 3 digit number as the calf tattoo number the first digit is Year number, the next two birth order number (ie. 801 would be the first calf born in 1998 or 2008). If I have a 10 year old cow with the same number, I skip over it. For example if a cow 805, born in 1998, was in the herd, I would not assign 805 this year. Any heifer that is selected as a replacement would have it's ear tag removed and a new ear tag with its tattoo number on the front.

To identify different sexs heifers get red tags, steers get white tags and bulls get blue tags. All tags go in the left ear because the tattoo goes in the right ear.

 

[pdfangus]

I been through all them every tag tells a story systems.

nerve wracking and you have to custom make tags. If the tag is big enough you can put a photo Id and pedigree on it. then you lose the tag anyway.

I have long ago adopted a single numbering system and all info about the calf goes into the record system. Every calf is numbered in birth order. first number is single digit year of birth. then three digit sequential number continuous. We have never run over fifty cows so I can run a sequence for 20 years and then start over if I live that long. One of this years top bulls seems to be 7567 ( 567th calf born in 07) who is a son GAR Grid Maker and out of 3387 ( 387th calf born in 03 ) who is a daughter of GAR Predestined and out of 0217 ( 217th calf born in 2000). need to know something pull out the pocket record and read it.

Just tagged 8585 (585th calf born in 08) yesterday. nice heifer sired by Orville 3391 (391st calf born in 03) and out of Illini daughter 0215 (215th calf born in 2000)


This year i ordered premade custom number tags and all I have to do is tag and weigh the calf and put the information in the record system.

Ear tag becomes the tatto if kept and also the freeze brand. One number for life.

 

[fit2btied]

About half our cows are registered and half commercial. Same system for both. Front of tag (Z-tags) has small universal letter for year (U in 08) at the top and large cow number on the bottom. Calves gets current letter and their dam's number - Ex: cow R118 had hfr calf U118. Twins, heaven forbid, get an A or B after the number. Back of tag has birthweight at the top and birth date at the bottom. All other info (breeding, descriptions, comments, etc.) is written in the little red cow/calf book and then transferred to the computer. All bull calves are banded and will keep that number. If heifers are to be retained, they will get their own new number and tag at spring work-up. All tags are in middle of left ear. Farm tattoo, FT2B, goes between skull and tag, ID tattoo, ex: U118, goes between the tag and the tip of the ear. Right ear will get a fly tag, but otherwise is saved for the vet for Bangs clip and tattoo. All animals run together on leased land from May up to deer season if grass and water hold out. They are then brought home for wintering and calving. Animals that come to my place have green tags, to my brother's, orange, to my son's, white. Makes them easier to sort and works for us.

 

[RVF]

Having the cows tag number on the front of the tag makes jobs like sorting for pasture a whole lot easier. This is not a big deal for 50 cows, but when you need to sort 300 into breeding pastures, you do not want to be looking up calf numbers in a book to make sure you have the pairs matched correctly.

 

[pdfangus]

Having the cows tag number on the front of the tag makes jobs like sorting for pasture a whole lot easier. This is not a big deal for 50 cows, but when you need to sort 300 into breeding pastures, you do not want to be looking up calf numbers in a book to make sure you have the pairs matched correctly.

not a big deal....
you have to put two check marks so you know you got both cow and calf anyway.

I make list of cows and just to the right a corresponding list of calves along side cow.

two check marks and I am done.

 

[randiliana]

We are commercial. Cows are simply tagged with a # starting at 1 and working our way up. Right now our top # is 171. When we had cows with my dad, they had green tags starting with #200, still have a few of them, but they are ours now. Calves get tagged with the same # as mom. White for heifers, orange for bulls/steers. All data is kept in my computer and in my paperwork, easy enough to look up if I can't remember off the top of my head. If we keep a heifer she simply gets whatever # is empty at the time, or gets the next # in sequence if all other #'s are used.

Having the calf tagged with the same # as mom, makes it really easy when sorting to go to pastures, or if you have to bring a pair in for some reason. Or, just if you are wondering how #58's calf is doing. We look for easy, as we have cattle going to at least 3 different pastures. Some pastures are 2 hours away, and we just can't afford to have a mixup like that.

The only other data on the tag is our brand, which is -G. Just as an easy identifier.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

Pre-numbered steel tag in the ear, left for bulls, right for heifers. I started at 1, and I think I'll just keep on going. If they're retained, they get a pre-numbered brisket tag. Again, I started at 1 and will work my way up. Probably start over when I hit 9999.

I tried all the spiffy numbering conventions with dangle ear tags, and found I lost WAY too many dangle tags. I tried the same spiffy numbering conventions with brisket tags and found the lettering wore off within a year, no matter what ink I used or how I did it. So now I got a bunch of cows with torn ears or plain white brisket tags :lol2:

The pre-numbered tags never wear off, and if I really need to know something about a cow, I'll look it up when I get back to the house. In the case of a calf, when I do checks, I keep my current calving book with me. Then if I need to do a treatment, the books right with me and I can write it down.

Rod

 

[tytower]

So before the calf is tagged how do you know which calf belongs to which cow? And how do you tell when they are penned?

Mind you anything under 20 head would be straightforward but when you have 50 to 100 breeders ?

 

[Hippie Rancher]

So before the calf is tagged how do you know which calf belongs to which cow? And how do you tell when they are penned?

Mind you anything under 20 head would be straightforward but when you have 50 to 100 breeders ?

Eh a lot of folks follow 'em around and tag the calf at birth. Some folks are that good at matching (my grandfather would have laughed at ear tags - he could tell from a half mile away what was going on with some old cow AND tell you her lineage 4 or 5 generations back)

My "system" allows for matching later by observation if I don't know at the time.

 

[randiliana]

So before the calf is tagged how do you know which calf belongs to which cow? And how do you tell when they are penned?

Mind you anything under 20 head would be straightforward but when you have 50 to 100 breeders ?

I tag them when they are less than 48 hours old. As we move them from the calving area, to the cow/calf pasture. We take them up as pairs, so it is easy.

 

[rockridgecattle]

all calves get their momma's number, + an RFID tag with a 9 digit number. The RFID has a sticker that goes into the calving book. Then if a calf looses one tag, can track it with the other.
Replacements get a tag when they go out on spring grass a year later.
The tag gets its mom's # in one corner, if the bull is known in the other corner, year of birth at the top and a new number. All heifers from the same year are tagged with consecutive #"
ie 100 to 125.
The next batch the following year will start at 130 and so on.