tdc_cattle
Well-known member
I put the moms number on the front. D.O.B and my brand on the back. One tag in the right ear.
What goes on your tag?
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I'm a hobby guy, so I have white tags for bull (banded and bull) calves and yellow for heifer calves. Simply the next number up although I do not ever have the same color and number of tag in the herd at the same time...... The hobby guy...
The animals individual ID. Letter for year and digits for the number that calf was born in that year. Heifers in the left bulls/steers in the right. I have a "Wheel Book", (older enlisted sailors will know what that is) with all of the other genetic information plus expected calving dates/calving dates and her offsprings ID.
Dave
Well-known member
One of the chores made easy when I started buying heifers to breed. I just number them in the order that they were purchased. Back when I had pairs I gave calves the same number as the cow. Blue tags for bulls and red tags for heifers.
Randi
Well-known member
Our brand at the top on the front. Then mama's number. Cow's and replacements just get a number, any number that is not currently in use.
Heifers get a white tag, steers an orange one.
Heifers get a white tag, steers an orange one.
Kathie in Thorp
Well-known member
We use a white tag for cows/heifers; a green tag for the boys. We do full size Z-tags with a three-liner: Top line is the dam's ear tag no., second is our 3-letter farm prefix, plus the year, and order of birth (BAF 16-2), bottom is the calf's DOB.
Ky hills
Well-known member
This year, I'm putting 16, on the top part of the tag, written kind of small, then just the calf's id number on the main part of tag.
Ky hills
Well-known member
dun":3vmfou6s said:
I have done that in the past with Angus calves that were possibilities to be registered. This year, most are just commercial, and the tags will be cut out and replaced prior to sales.
hillbilly beef man
Well-known member
dun":d2dhw3n5 said:
Dun, can you find tags with the letter on them or do you use a tag pen? This is the system I want to use but I cannot find tags with letters.
hillbilly beef man
Well-known member
How many years can you get out of a pen marked tag before it fades?
tdc_cattle
Well-known member
Ky hills":m51iizmr said:
None of mine get a permanent number unless they are retained for breeding stock. Then they get a four digit number with the first number denoting the year born. This year they will all start with 6, if the mom is #0001 the heifer will be 6011.
As our calves are born they are just given a random number tag (whichever one is the first I grab out of the sack) and that is related to the dam and also all the data for that calf is entered into cattlemax. The calf has a permanent ID, year letter and the sequential number of it's birth for that year. But until we decide who is being retained we don;t waste good tags. The calf tags are one size smaller then the permanent tags and they are duflex (with the replaceable button). Been using the same tags for 15 years or so. I have had to renew the number on them a couple of times until I started using the ink we use now. When we ship calves we usually leave the tag in their ear. The ones we retain we use a permanent z-tag. The z-tag has the year letter and their individual number, i.e. the first calf this year is D1, the next D2, etc. Those 2 currently have an orange tag, 13 and 25.
Rafter S
Well-known member
When I work calves I use some 3 and 4 digit pre-printed tags that I bought cheap on eBay. The heifers get one color in the left ear and the steers get another color in the right ear. I leave the tags in the ones I sell. The heifers I keep get a new tag when they get worked at the vet. This year the first one through the chute will be 016, the second will be 116, etc.
Nesikep
Well-known member
This year I'm doing it a little different.. since we need RFID tags up here. I bought a whack of Ztags and RFID buttons, and I don't like them as much as the Allflex.. On the Allflex I'd cut the nubbin off where the pin goes through, and I'd stack the RFID button on the tag.. Retention has been excellent that way. Now the pins are shorter and designed different.. So heifers get a maxi tag with Letter year and number (I'm off the international standard.. at Z next year, after that I'll correct) in one ear (left) and RFID button in the right. Steers just get the RFID button and I write a number on the pin.. No, it's not easily visible, but still easier than seeing the numbers written on the RFID button without a scanner. I had a pile of old faded tags I used for the steer, but ran out of them now.. Maybe I'll get some smaller ones sometime, but for the dozen steers a year I produce, I get to know them well enough and it really doesn't matter that much.
cbcr
Well-known member
We have members that use custom tags. The first line with numbers is animals registration number, the second line has the dams number and the animals date of birth. The third line is the sires name, (they usually order 2 tags with one have the sires name and the other his stud code number), Then the last line is the animals herd management number. Since this is a custom tag the year letter could be used along with a number.
With the 840 RFID tags being used more and more, a custom tag cannot be printed with the 840 on it, but in the photo example, 840 is the USA Country code so we put USA and then we use the 12 digits of the 840 tag number in 3 groups of 4. We include leading zeros too!
With the 840 RFID tags being used more and more, a custom tag cannot be printed with the 840 on it, but in the photo example, 840 is the USA Country code so we put USA and then we use the 12 digits of the 840 tag number in 3 groups of 4. We include leading zeros too!
Terrell
Member
hillbilly beef man":5ap0pm5n said:
I agree with Dun's recommendation of the year-letter numbering system. It is a clean way of linking cows to calves and keeping track of cow ages - all while avoiding duplicates. Duplicate tags pose a real problem when you go to software like CattleMax or even Excel when you start running lookups.
You can view a copy of the Beef Improvement Federation's year-letter table as well as an example of a numbering system on our website at http://www.cattletags.com/beef-cattle-y ... signations .
As an example of the numbering system, say Cow 100A (2013 model) has a heifer calf. I'd number her calf 100D. If I ended up keeping 100D as a replacement heifer, I'd give 100D a new number where last left off (say 150D). In a couple years, cow 100A would have calf 100F and 150D would have calf 150F.
Many of the ear tag manufacturers, including Allflex, now offer custom cattle ear tags. When you order, you can just send a list of tag numbers (including numbers, letters, non-sequential numbers, ranch name, logo, etc) and have them printed on the tags. The tags will then be laser-engraved and inked just as if you had bought pre-numbered tags at the store. The combined laser-engraving + inking helps ensure tag visibility long-term even after the ink fades.
We run 2 brands and are now adding a 3rd. One has females getting white Alflex maxi-tags in left ear in consecutive numbers. The other has a very haphazard "custom" system on blue tags, right ear. Started with letters of the alphabet (because originally that herd was to be small) then doubles of that, then triples that got ordered wrong (large tag instead of maxi) and recently started a silly code with a letter, then number digits with 0s holding spaces until we get into the 100s. I hate it but the dang things cost so much I am trapped until I figure out something new or die. then it will be somebody else's problem. just like the concrete around the old posts. :mrgreen:
steers get a medium, usually green, consecutive number tag.
my sister inherited an old family brand and has purchased her first heifer. the heifer is black. the sister wants pink tags. sigh.
steers get a medium, usually green, consecutive number tag.
my sister inherited an old family brand and has purchased her first heifer. the heifer is black. the sister wants pink tags. sigh.
