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Allflex Tags

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Faster horses said:
OT and Andy, I can't understand why you are having problems with the Z-tags. They are far and away the best we have used. Are you putting them in holes made by prior tags, such as cows? That probably could be part of the problem.

Are you using them in calves ears? My husband really likes the fact that he doesn't have to pack the buttons around either. Gosh, everyone in this area is sold on the Z-tags.

I really am puzzled by your comment. We did get a bag that the end on a few fell off behind the ear, and the tags fell out, but that was a bad batch. Heck, maybe you got into that same batch. We have used them for years with no problem at all. But we did have a little of that this year. You can see that the end isn't quite right before you apply the tag. If you have any left, take a look at the end on the back of the tag.

Let me know what you find, I am curious.
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I checked the tags I have left and can't see anything wrong-I'll have to wait until I run across some that are laying on the prairie out there and maybe I can get a better idea-large(so I can read the numbers anymore) hunter orange so they should show up-- My neighbor swears by them- but a couple weeks ago when we were mothering up pairs to move to the community pasture, I noticed several missing in the calves.....
 
We prefer Z tags over everything we've ever tried .....I have absolutely no use for button tags .....too high a loss rate and lots of split ears. The Z tags have excellent retention, are simple to insert and the Ink stays on fairly well! We've gone back to these for herd I.D. and only use CCIA button tags when selling cattle.
 
i only lose a lot of tags on the baby calves that i tag. Not on feedlot cattle or cows. I do like there tagger better than any of the others i have tried.
 
Andy, I take from a previous post that you use EID tags. At what age do you put these in your calves. Does your feedlot require them? Or are they simply part of your "value-added" program?

Do you use EID's in cows too?
 
I tag all of my calves on the day of birth with medium sizes Temple tags - - right ear for males left for females. The last two digits of the calf tag will corrispond with the last two digits on the cow but the first digit will correspond to the year born. Then if an animal is good enough to stay in the breeding herd the hiefer will have the tag button cut and the tag moved to the right ear and a new large tag placed in the old hole in the left ear - - - this allows me at a glance to see three generations of breeding. With the new style tagger from Temple it has a break away pin and works very well - - no torn ears. I misplaced the tagger once this year and used the old one and the calf jumped at the wrong time so I have one calf this year with a torn ear. The buttons Temple uses have a heavier stem than any I have seen. I have a couple of 15 year old cows that still have both of their original tags. After about 5 years when we run them thru the chute I have to reink them, and as my eyes are getting older I believe I will start using large tags on the calves - - no more black ink on dark colored tags either - - - I find black on red to be the easiest for me to read and that is what all of the adult animals have but my daughter gets a different color for the calves each year and she got black on blue this year - - - her young eyes can read them fine but they are a blur to me unless I get within about 10 feet and most of my calves are not that tame.
 
My husband is SOOOO COLOR BLIND that we use black ink on yellow tags. Yellow or white is about all he distinguish real good.

He tags bull calves in the right ear and heifer calves in the left so there is plenty of room for the bangs tag and numbers in the left ear.
 
(At what age do you put these in your calves) At weaning.

(Does your feedlot require them? Or are they simply part of your "value-added" program?) They are part of our overall managment and they are also required for South Dakota Certified .

(Do you use EID's in cows too?) Yes, we started putting them in in 97 and put them in all the calves every year so all the cows have them now.
 
We've used Allflex tags and had good luck. I was at a Stock Growers seminar recently where Allflex had an electronic tag reader there. Gallagher is also marketing one. From what I understood, they are all working to improve the technology and the read range, etc., but some of the ones out now aren't bad.

www.allflexusa.com
www.gallagherusa.com
 
WE use allflex and have for 20 yrs. Lilly must have a problem with the tag gun and backs not being complatable. I have put in several hundred this spring and have had not a problem at all. The only lost tags on the calves are the frost bit ears that I did not tag deep enough-if I would have gone deeper the tag would have been in the head. I still use a couple older allfex taggers and a couple newer ones-just got the necessary part for the old taggers to make them work with the new tag backs. :) :shock:
 
Rowdy Ranch said:
The only lost tags on the calves are the frost bit ears that I did not tag deep enough-if I would have gone deeper the tag would have been in the head. :) :shock:
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I hear you on that one, Rowdy Ranch, even though the calves can't hear. They have no ears to hear with. It's good that their eyes work fine, because they would have nothing to hang a pair of glasses on. :cry: :? :wink: :shock: 8)
 
I had no idea with tags the variety of colors. My husband wanted to tag his calves a different color from his dad's this year, so they wouldn't have to spend as much time figuring it out in the branding pen.

He asked me to go get some tags, and said his dad was using yellow. I've only ever seen yellow, black, blue, red, brown, and white. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the vet supply store and saw a whole rainbow of colors including pastels!

My 3 year old daughter wanted the pretty pink ones, but I told her that might be a bit much, so we compromised on purple. I have never seen anyone around here use purple, so our little duffers should really stand out. :D

I find that the buttonless tags work best for someone who isn't as deft as someone whose being tagging for years. I can get a tag in a calf's ear and hop back on the fourwheeler before the momma figures it out. If I had to fiddle with cold fingers and two piece systems, I'd be a smear on the prairie. :wink:
 
PPRM said:
If you changed pins, maybe you got some bags of old backs??? The reason I am insitent on this is it IS THE SAME PROBLEM WE HAD......However, it doesn't mean the same source of the problem.

I would try one of two things at this point. Talk to the store where you bought them....Find the number or contact info for All-Flex. The reps in the Northwest are pretty good and I would say they definetly don't want you to continue with the same problems. Before calling, have a resolution in mind. Any time talking to a company this is important. In your case, I would say the resolution would be find the problem and fix and a couple of bags of backs...

Good luck as I remember how frustrating the problem was for me,


PPRM
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I think you are right PPRM with all the new tagging supplies we use them and have not had any troubles. I'm pretty sure we aren't always doing it right (LOL) so I'm thinking the problem might be in having the old tag backs.
 
needtolearn said:
I had no idea with tags the variety of colors. My husband wanted to tag his calves a different color from his dad's this year, so they wouldn't have to spend as much time figuring it out in the branding pen.

He asked me to go get some tags, and said his dad was using yellow. I've only ever seen yellow, black, blue, red, brown, and white. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the vet supply store and saw a whole rainbow of colors including pastels!

My 3 year old daughter wanted the pretty pink ones, but I told her that might be a bit much, so we compromised on purple. I have never seen anyone around here use purple, so our little duffers should really stand out. :D

I find that the buttonless tags work best for someone who isn't as deft as someone whose being tagging for years. I can get a tag in a calf's ear and hop back on the fourwheeler before the momma figures it out. If I had to fiddle with cold fingers and two piece systems, I'd be a smear on the prairie. :wink:
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We use different color tags so it looks like a rainbow at branding. Our personal cows have a color, the embryo cows have a color, the ranch calves have a color and on years we have heifers they have a color. It helps at branding then the ropers know to drag the blue and green on one side of the fire and the white to the opposite. Once there then the branders know what brand to lay on them and the cutters know if they are getting cut or kept. :wink:
 
Any of you used Ritchie (I think thats the spelling) tags? A few years back we did but Dad likes the Allflex so when we came home we went back to using what he did rather then carrying two tagging tools.
 
I have used allflex tags many years with no problems,I bought a bunch of Y-Tex tags and tagger a while back because the fly tags I wanted to use called for a Y-Tex tagger,so bought some ear tags too,figger to give em a try,the old style allflex taggers were bad about pinching ears,I think that is one of the reasons they changed the tagger..........good luck
 
CattleRMe said:
Any of you used Ritchie (I think thats the spelling) tags? A few years back we did but Dad likes the Allflex so when we came home we went back to using what he did rather then carrying two tagging tools.
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We use the richie grindable tags and allflex backs. It seems to work very good.
 
I still use Temple tags.

This company started in 1954 in Temple Texas and I believe is the only tag manufacture left in the US.

Great retention, hold their numbers well, easy to use, and cheap. I have one cow that still has her calf tag ( moved from left ear to right ear when she went into the breeding herd to allow the cow tag to go in the hole in her left ear) that was put in in 1986 and can still be read - - - I have probably reinked it 4 or 5 times over her lifetime. The numbers are not just stamped on they are in the tags so if the paint ever came completely of you could still feel the imprint and reink.

These are great people to work with. I help a local vet with large animal calls and he will use what the owner wants but feels Temple tags are the best of any he has ever used and I agree. It is not often you can get the best for less.

Go to www.templetags.com you can see what they offer in both conventional tags and electronic tags and readers. The new ( about 5 years old ) tagger is really better than the old style as if a calf gets away at the last minute you don't end up with a split ear.
 

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