To tag, or not to tag?

[Soapweed]

Me #6.......
For our situation.... But......... When I was home we didn't.... And even now when I need to tell the guys about a cow I rarely give them the tag number which drives them nuts because I tell them about the cow... Like big ole black cow with small teats...

You probably just forgot to read the ear tag. :wink: Are you sure it wasn't a little ol' red cow with big teats? :wink:

 

[katrina]

Me #6.......
For our situation.... But......... When I was home we didn't.... And even now when I need to tell the guys about a cow I rarely give them the tag number which drives them nuts because I tell them about the cow... Like big ole black cow with small teats...

You probably just forgot to read the ear tag. :wink: Are you sure it wasn't a little ol' red cow with big teats? :wink:

Just last tuesday.....

 

[Justin]

for a split second, early this spring, i thought about not tagging the calves this year. i mentioned this idea to my wife..i won't tell ya what she said to me, but i'm tagging all the calves again. :wink:

 

[katrina]

Yup.... had a calf with no mom this morning.... wouldn't have a clue who it belonged to if not for tags.... Cow went to water or somewhere she thought she needed to go and left her calf.. Finally remembered and I luckly was there when she came back.... Put a tag in his ear and no worries....

 

[randiliana]

I agree with Soap on this too. And this spring we had a chance to test out that no tag idea.

I ordered tags with our brand on them, they were supposed to be here shortly before we started to calve. We had 95 calves, 2 weeks into calving season, mostly untagged. What a total pain in the butt that was. Pairing them out was painful, cause we only let the older calves go and keep the younger calves closer so we can keep a closer eye on things. And the mamas are all quite eager to leave, while the calves really have no idea what is going on. Try figuring out exactly which red or black or bwf etc calf belongs to that cow when all she is worrying about is wide open spaces....

Then, the other day we moved calves. Most of them at least 1 month old. We had 9 calves come back home on us. We learned a few lessons that day... IT was nice to just be able to load them up, haul them back to the pasture and wait til their mama came along and head the calf to her. Pretty hard to do that with no tags, and 95% of the cows running around looking for calves when we called them...

Plus, we run in about 5 or 6 different pastures. It is much easier to sort for pastures with eartags that match up, and sort for bulls that way too. Our tags are pretty simple, we give the cow a random number when she enters the herd as a bred and then simply tag the calf with the same number. Most of our heifer tags will get reused, year after year, since we remove the calf tag and retag her with a permanent number when we decide to keep her. Steers usually get sold with the tag. Not that I wouldn't reuse, but I've given that argument up with DH.

I disagree with FH that you don't look at the cow as much when they have a tag. And we sure don't keep cattle just simply based on their tag number. We've been known to cull out heifers out of our best cows because we didn't like how they looked. OTOH, the tags have enabled us to know which cows ARE the best cows, or cull based on performance or BW. Last year we culled out 2 of our nicest heifer calves because their BW was huge. Hard to remember those without a tag. And then there is the times you have a cow looking for a calf or vice versa, or a sick calf, or a cow with a tight udder. You know when you've found the pair.

 

[gcreekrch]

I am actually surprised at how many people have said they don't or are considering not to tag. I have some neighbors that run some big herds and they have tags in almost all their cows. Some don't have a real system of anykind but pretty much everybody around here tags.

I agree that there is a cost to tagging but we have found ways to minimize that and still get the benefits of them. We have went to Z-tag feelot tags for the calves this year @ $0.59/tag instead of Allflex Maxi tags for $1.10/tag. We don't have a concern about losing a cheaper tag because we retag the replacement females in the fall when we sort out the keepers. The calves tags have the order they were born on top with the year letter, the sire on the side, and the biggest number is the dam for sorting purposes. Our replacements recieve a tag with all the same info, just the calfs number and year letter become the biggest part of the tag. I can use this info in picking replacements based on age, breeding, dam, and sire. I can say that a tag has never influenced my judgement on a heifers phenotypical traits.

Like I said, there is cost involved, but I agree with Soapweed about a tag being an investment, not only in the animal, but in the herd in general.

Where did you buy your tags? We paid .46 , I can get you lined up with our supplier. They are closer to you than me.

 

[gcreekrch]

Me #6.......
For our situation.... But......... When I was home we didn't.... And even now when I need to tell the guys about a cow I rarely give them the tag number which drives them nuts because I tell them about the cow... Like big ole black cow with small teats...

You probably just forgot to read the ear tag. :wink: Are you sure it wasn't a little ol' red cow with big teats? :wink:

Just last tuesday.....

Debbie used that ID system until she decided to use the tags we were putting in as names instead of Cleo and Cassandra and Dorothy and Letty and..... you get the picture. :lol:

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I am actually surprised at how many people have said they don't or are considering not to tag. I have some neighbors that run some big herds and they have tags in almost all their cows. Some don't have a real system of anykind but pretty much everybody around here tags.

I agree that there is a cost to tagging but we have found ways to minimize that and still get the benefits of them. We have went to Z-tag feelot tags for the calves this year @ $0.59/tag instead of Allflex Maxi tags for $1.10/tag. We don't have a concern about losing a cheaper tag because we retag the replacement females in the fall when we sort out the keepers. The calves tags have the order they were born on top with the year letter, the sire on the side, and the biggest number is the dam for sorting purposes. Our replacements recieve a tag with all the same info, just the calfs number and year letter become the biggest part of the tag. I can use this info in picking replacements based on age, breeding, dam, and sire. I can say that a tag has never influenced my judgement on a heifers phenotypical traits.

Like I said, there is cost involved, but I agree with Soapweed about a tag being an investment, not only in the animal, but in the herd in general.

Where did you buy your tags? We paid .46 , I can get you lined up with our supplier. They are closer to you than me.

The new Allflex one piece feedlot tag that looks like a ZEE tag knock offf at the Coop farm center in Moose Jaw were $24 for fifity and the ZEE tag feedlots were$26 or 27 at Master feeds in Regina

 

[katrina]

You probably just forgot to read the ear tag. :wink: Are you sure it wasn't a little ol' red cow with big teats? :wink:

Just last tuesday.....

Debbie used that ID system until she decided to use the tags we were putting in as names instead of Cleo and Cassandra and Dorothy and Letty and..... you get the picture. :lol:

I'll bet we could work together just fine and get the job done! Gotta love cowgirl logic...
Had one cow named Tina...... She had a topknott just like Tina Turner. 8)

 

[North Ridge Ranching]

Where did you buy your tags? We paid .46 , I can get you lined up with our supplier. They are closer to you than me.

Just from the local Co-op. I know it was in December because you got a free tagger if you bought more than 100 before year end. Where did you get yours?

 

[North Ridge Ranching]

I am actually surprised at how many people have said they don't or are considering not to tag. I have some neighbors that run some big herds and they have tags in almost all their cows. Some don't have a real system of anykind but pretty much everybody around here tags.

I agree that there is a cost to tagging but we have found ways to minimize that and still get the benefits of them. We have went to Z-tag feelot tags for the calves this year @ $0.59/tag instead of Allflex Maxi tags for $1.10/tag. We don't have a concern about losing a cheaper tag because we retag the replacement females in the fall when we sort out the keepers. The calves tags have the order they were born on top with the year letter, the sire on the side, and the biggest number is the dam for sorting purposes. Our replacements recieve a tag with all the same info, just the calfs number and year letter become the biggest part of the tag. I can use this info in picking replacements based on age, breeding, dam, and sire. I can say that a tag has never influenced my judgement on a heifers phenotypical traits.

Like I said, there is cost involved, but I agree with Soapweed about a tag being an investment, not only in the animal, but in the herd in general.

Where did you buy your tags? We paid .46 , I can get you lined up with our supplier. They are closer to you than me.

The new Allflex one piece feedlot tag that looks like a ZEE tag knock offf at the Coop farm center in Moose Jaw were $24 for fifity and the ZEE tag feedlots were$26 or 27 at Master feeds in Regina

I have been more than pleased with the Z-tags. They go in extremely easy. The only problem with using the feelot tags, of any brand I think, is that you have to carry two taggers. One for the dangle tag and one for the RFID tag.

I just had an idea!! I might as well say it because I will never get around to designing it. A two sided tagger, one side for the feedlot tags, the other side for button tags. I should patent that idea but my head hurts just thinking about it.

 

[JF Ranch]

It looks like the consensus here is that people like tags. However, I don't think anyone answered the original question about whether tagging makes economical sense.

In my opinion, tags are not essential but they can tend to make life around cows easier. I think it is a convenience which is up to each individual, if it is worth paying for or not. Obviously if you are keeping production records, then individual ID is important.

My only purpose for tagging is to make finding a pair easier. I use Temple Tags because they are so much easier to re-use than other brands. We remove them from our calves when we sell, so that I don't have to purchase as many new tags every year.

In addition to our spring herd, I have about 100 fall calving cows. Last summer when they started calving, I intended to tag them but circumstances were such that we did not tag those calves. To be honest about it, I didn't even know the difference.

 

[Big Swede]

I still calve my heifers close to home and and I still tag their calves. You know how heifers can be, claiming the wrong calf. Yesterday I moved the mature cow herd 3 miles from home to pasture to begin calving. These calves won't be getting any tags. I used to but it just seemed like a waste of time, money, and effort.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Where did you buy your tags? We paid .46 , I can get you lined up with our supplier. They are closer to you than me.

The new Allflex one piece feedlot tag that looks like a ZEE tag knock offf at the Coop farm center in Moose Jaw were $24 for fifity and the ZEE tag feedlots were$26 or 27 at Master feeds in Regina

I have been more than pleased with the Z-tags. They go in extremely easy. The only problem with using the feelot tags, of any brand I think, is that you have to carry two taggers. One for the dangle tag and one for the RFID tag.

I just had an idea!! I might as well say it because I will never get around to designing it. A two sided tagger, one side for the feedlot tags, the other side for button tags. I should patent that idea but my head hurts just thinking about it.

MY ZEE tagger works for the regular Zee tags as well as the feedlot version of Zee and Allflex. It looks like it would work for the new one piece Allflex regular tags. I did see the "NEW" Allflex universal tagger with the flip out pin. looked to do both the one and two piece tags but not sure as I didn't buy one to try.

 

[North Ridge Ranching]

It looks like the consensus here is that people like tags. However, I don't think anyone answered the original question about whether tagging makes economical sense.

I agree with most of your comment but I have to respectfully disagree with this statement.

I think alot of the reasons people have said they tag make economical sense. By knowing some background info on replacement at selection time you should be able to make a better informed decision on your replacement and improve your herd. A better cow herd will always pay off economically.

Tagging also helps to know which cows aren't producing as well because you can trace that poor calf back to its momma at sale time. This helps in culling less economical cows.

The third economical benefit is time saving at sorting time. We as ranchers never put enough cost on time. The quicker you get through sorting, the sooner you can get on to next job at hand.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

It looks like the consensus here is that people like tags. However, I don't think anyone answered the original question about whether tagging makes economical sense.

I agree with most of your comment but I have to respectfully disagree with this statement.

I think alot of the reasons people have said they tag make economical sense. By knowing some background info on replacement at selection time you should be able to make a better informed decision on your replacement and improve your herd. A better cow herd will always pay off economically.

Tagging also helps to know which cows aren't producing as well because you can trace that poor calf back to its momma at sale time. This helps in culling less economical cows.

The third economical benefit is time saving at sorting time. We as ranchers never put enough cost on time. The quicker you get through sorting, the sooner you can get on to next job at hand.

Tagging cows can let you identify poor producers with out the hassle of tagging at birth which I felt was the intent of the question.

If you need to make pairs to go to different pastures it would help Or as someone said you are making use of Individual ID yes but for me the work involved in tagging calves on a pasture calving herd on mature cows that will stay together it doesn't make sense.
I do notch the ear on my steers at branding to help with sorting but most of my steers carry a little tag on their bellies that gets looked at for sorting. :wink: :lol: :lol:

 

[North Ridge Ranching]

The new Allflex one piece feedlot tag that looks like a ZEE tag knock offf at the Coop farm center in Moose Jaw were $24 for fifity and the ZEE tag feedlots were$26 or 27 at Master feeds in Regina

I have been more than pleased with the Z-tags. They go in extremely easy. The only problem with using the feelot tags, of any brand I think, is that you have to carry two taggers. One for the dangle tag and one for the RFID tag.

I just had an idea!! I might as well say it because I will never get around to designing it. A two sided tagger, one side for the feedlot tags, the other side for button tags. I should patent that idea but my head hurts just thinking about it.

MY ZEE tagger works for the regular Zee tags as well as the feedlot version of Zee and Allflex. It looks like it would work for the new one piece Allflex regular tags. I did see the "NEW" Allflex universal tagger with the flip out pin. looked to do both the one and two piece tags but not sure as I didn't buy one to try.

Your Z-tagger won't put in RFID tags though will it? I have the new Green Flip Pin Allflex tagger, but they have made a new Yellow Tagger for thier A-Tags ( one piece AllFlex ). I don't think the green one works for the new one piece Allflex tags but I could be wrong.

Still need two taggers if you use cheaper feedlot dangle tags and RFID tags in the spring.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I have been more than pleased with the Z-tags. They go in extremely easy. The only problem with using the feelot tags, of any brand I think, is that you have to carry two taggers. One for the dangle tag and one for the RFID tag.

I just had an idea!! I might as well say it because I will never get around to designing it. A two sided tagger, one side for the feedlot tags, the other side for button tags. I should patent that idea but my head hurts just thinking about it.

MY ZEE tagger works for the regular Zee tags as well as the feedlot version of Zee and Allflex. It looks like it would work for the new one piece Allflex regular tags. I did see the "NEW" Allflex universal tagger with the flip out pin. looked to do both the one and two piece tags but not sure as I didn't buy one to try.

Your Z-tagger won't put in RFID tags though will it? I have the new Green Flip Pin Allflex tagger, but they have made a new Yellow Tagger for thier A-Tags ( one piece AllFlex ). I don't think the green one works for the new one piece Allflex tags but I could be wrong.

Still need two taggers if you use cheaper feedlot dangle tags and RFID tags in the spring.

Your right about the Zee tagger not putting in RFID tags. Guess I wasn't considering them as I don't put them in until I sell something or send it out to grass as a yearling.

 

[North Ridge Ranching]

Tagging cows can let you identify poor producers with out the hassle of tagging at birth which I felt was the intent of the question.

I do notch the ear on my steers at branding to help with sorting but most of my steers carry a little tag on their bellies that gets looked at for sorting. :wink: :lol: :lol:

How does the cow being tagged and no corresponding calf tag help you know that a poor calf belongs to a certain cow at sale time if they aren't paired up and are instead, all mixed up in a corral. I know our black calves can look alot alike in the corral at sale time. I know, we all probably diagnose these calves during the summer on pasture, but a reminder at sale time doesn't hurt if you have a memory like I do.:???: :???:

I do like your comment on the steer tag under their bellies though. I usually don't struggle on identifying the steers from heifers either. I was talking more about sorting for pastures and breeding herds like you mentioned earlier.

 

[North Ridge Ranching]

MY ZEE tagger works for the regular Zee tags as well as the feedlot version of Zee and Allflex. It looks like it would work for the new one piece Allflex regular tags. I did see the "NEW" Allflex universal tagger with the flip out pin. looked to do both the one and two piece tags but not sure as I didn't buy one to try.

Your Z-tagger won't put in RFID tags though will it? I have the new Green Flip Pin Allflex tagger, but they have made a new Yellow Tagger for thier A-Tags ( one piece AllFlex ). I don't think the green one works for the new one piece Allflex tags but I could be wrong.

Still need two taggers if you use cheaper feedlot dangle tags and RFID tags in the spring.

Your right about the Zee tagger not putting in RFID tags. Guess I wasn't considering them as I don't put them in until I sell something or send it out to grass as a yearling.

We do the steers in the spring with RFID tags when we castrate so that we have less big calves to handle in the fall. We just have to RFID tag the heifers we don't keep in the fall.