Ear Tags

[farmboy]

Just wondering as I was checking cows today....How much information do other operations get on their ear tags. I see some with five or six different symbols or letters all meaning different things. Just wondering if any of your ideas would work better on our place.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

On my PB's I put the year letter at the top. The calf number in the middle the cow number down the side and the bull at the bottom. I like it because sorting bulls I can pick out sire groups just from the tags with out having to consult a book.

 

[gcreekrch]

Just the mother's number, I can confuse myself enough with that.

 

[C Thompson]

We don't have any purebreds so have decided these last two years to not bother tagging calves at all until we brand. The cows seem to know who their calves are and we just decided we didn't need to take the risk for no good reason. Just lazy I guess but it works for us.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

We don't have any purebreds so have decided these last two years to not bother tagging calves at all until we brand. The cows seem to know who their calves are and we just decided we didn't need to take the risk for no good reason. Just lazy I guess but it works for us.

Hey Jack, don't think your any lazier than I am. :wink:
I don't tag the commercial unless I am going to need a few pair to go to a desperate pasture and then it
s only a few of the hfrs that calve up close to the yard.

 

[TizHot]

We run commercial and tag everyone. Always ring,inject vit A/D,seliniem (spl) and biomyicin at 1 day old anyway so we tag with cows number and RDIF tag. Used to use metal tags in ears also but have since quit due to issues with ear out growing the metal tag! On all replacements we then metal tag the heifer and use the number on it to identify the animal if (or when) she loses her number tag. On the number tag we change from the original calf/cow number to a numerical number for the herd. So we always know where the calf came from. Also above the new number we write the year she was born. At a glance we know how old everyone is when my memory fails! The one idea we now use is to tag the steer calves and heifers calves in different ears. Always like my cows to be tagged in the left ear for sorting purposes so all heifer calves get tags in left,steers in right. Absolutely love that idea!!

 

[rancherfred]

Four digit tag, first number is the last number of the year they are born in. Next three are just chronological birth order. Numbers this year will start with 3001 and go up from there. We also use a different color tag each year so that in the uncommon event that we have two cows with the same number it is real easy to identify year.

 

[jigs]

I just write "STOLEN FROM JIGS CREEK CATTLE COMPANY" on each tag, that way if someone else takes my cattle to the sale barn, they know !!

it must work, never been called by a sale barn about stolen cattle

 

[jodywy]

I just write "STOLEN FROM JIGS CREEK CATTLE COMPANY" on each tag, that way if someone else takes my cattle to the sale barn, they know !!

it must work, never been called by a sale barn about stolen cattle

sure like brand inspection....

 

[flyingS]

rancherfred do you happen to run chi-cross cows. We used to tag the same way you do when I was a kid. I hadn't ever heard of anyone else not matching tag numbers till now. We tagged that way out of necessity. We had summer and early fall calving cows that were Chi cross and meaner than all get out. We pasture calved so we would gather pairs every few days tagging what we could as we went and putting all other pairs in a branding pen in the corner of the pasture. We would then sort all the cow off and us kids would go to roping calves. When dad would let a calf up and out the pen he would see which cow picked him up and write there numbers down in the book. It was a lot of work, but much easier than the beating you would have taken trying to tag out in the open.
I don't prefer to tag. I feel like any heifer calves that are out of something that shouldn't be passing genetics should be marked or any that tend to have above average birth weights. The best way to mark them is with an ear notch system.

 

[Silver]

Steer calves get only the mother's number, steers get a different colour tag than the heifers do.
Bottom number on heifer's tag is determined by order of birth, followed by the year letter. First calf born is 1A. Top number is the cows number. Metal tag is applied to heifer calves and noted in the herd book, so if in the future she should lose her dangle tag it can be replaced properly.
The dangle tag we give calves at birth is the only tag they will ever get as long as they don't lose it. I don't understand why people change out heifer's tags once they are bred.... perhaps someone can enlighten me
It's nice a nice feature when picking replacements, because at a glance you know who the mother is, and the chronological order of birth. Later on you can easily see families of cows and see what needs weeded out or is worth keeping.
Just my thoughts.

 

[caljane]

We tag only with the cow number (commercial herd), it does make it easier to identify pairs if the cow doesn't stick with her calf for one reason or the other. Since we give C&D soon after calving we catch the calves anyway when young.
We used to tag heifers in the right ear, bulls in the left, to save on shrink when sorting on shipping day. Had some really dummy cowboys working for us who couldn't tell the difference between left and right, so switched to red tags for heifers and green tags for bulls
Unfortunately we have some color blind (?) cowboys working for us too, so we try to catch the wrong tagged calves at the branding.

 

[North Ridge Ranching]

We run all commercial and this is our system

Sire down the side, calf number with year letter on top, and big number is for the Dam to make sorting easier. Blue are my dads, green are mine.

If we keep a heifer as a replacement, she gets top number.

 

[eatbeef]

Brand at top(written small), then pasture cow was in last year(written small), usually a number or letter and number, and then cows number(written large). Bulls in left and Hiefers in right ear.

 

[farmboy]

Thanks for all the great ideas, we put cows number on calves tag three or four different colors that identifies different owners. We catch calves day of or day after birth, tag and band, that way when we brand all we do is give shots and brand, works pretty good, always looking for ways to improve things.

 

[Soapweed]

We use the long-necked Z-tags on our calves. Each tag has a top number, which is in the chronological order in which they were born, and the bottom number matches the calf's mother's number. Our Spearhead brand <- fits nicely between the numbers. Blue tags designate the Kosmo Kid's kattle; calves from two-year-old heifers (1 on the year brand) get yellow tags; calves from three-year-old cows (0 on the year brand) get pink; calves from (9) cows get white; ( 8 ) red; (both 6 and 7 year brands) orange; (5) green; (4, 3, and 2 year brands) get purple. It's a bit complicated but works like a dream because we are used to it. :wink:

 

[jcarkie]

we use cow number to match calf, and heifer left ear steer right ear. we change colors every year this year red, next year yellow. cows are all XL red so replacements get a red tag when preg checked bred.

 

[caljane]

We use the long-necked Z-tags on our calves. Each tag has a top number, which is in the chronological order in which they were born, and the bottom number matches the calf's mother's number. Our Spearhead brand <- fits nicely between the numbers. Blue tags designate the Kosmo Kid's kattle; calves from two-year-old heifers (1 on the year brand) get yellow tags; calves from three-year-old cows (0 on the year brand) get pink; calves from (9) cows get white; ( 8 ) red; (both 6 and 7 year brands) orange; (5) green; (4, 3, and 2 year brands) get purple. It's a bit complicated but works like a dream because we are used to it. :wink:

Why do you need to know the age of the cow at glance (spot the eartag color) at the calve? I can imagine it is good to know the heifer calves from the older cows calves, but do not understand for older cows. What color(s) eartags do you use for your cows?

 

[Jake]

We use the Ritchie engravables for the cows. Retention is pretty good and you never have to worry about the numbers fading. Cows are all yellow tags and calves are all white. Has been that way for so long, anything else just seems wrong.

 

[WyomingRancher]

We tag the calf with the same number as the mother. The first number corresponds to the year the cow was born, this year our first calvers all start with a 1. I also put one, two, or three dots above the number to indicate calves born in the first, second, or third cycle of a 50 day breeding season. I also write the calf birthdate on the back of the tag. If we ran on private pasture year around, I doubt I'd bother tagging at all. It is nice to know at a glance who belongs to who though .