Houston
New member
Each year I buy ear tags, and each year I wonder why I'm really spending that couple hundred bucks. I'm wondering if there are any folks out there that do NOT ear tag their cattle, and if so, how they manage them from year to year without the clear identification that a tag provides. We're calving about 130 this year of cross bred females bred to Murray Grey bulls.
Calving season is May and June. Calves will go over the winter on their mama. Some steers we'll sell as grass finished beef off of our place at 24 months, some we'll sell as yearlings to other grass finishers at about 12 months, some we'll take to the sale barn at 12 months. We'll keep back some of the heifers for replacements, and we'll sell the rest to individuals or at the sale barn later in the fall.
So, how do I manage this without tags? We've always used ear tags, but it's my understanding that tagging wasn't done much prior to the 1950's as the technology didn't exist at that time.
As we continually try to minimize our inputs and labor, I'm trying to question everything we do to see if it is something that really adds value at sale time, meaning that it was a net profit after labor and expenses for that input, or is it something that we're doing "just because". Some things I do just because I like to, or because they make my life easier, but they don't make me any money. I'm ok with that, but I don't want to fool myself into thinking that it's also making me money.
I've only been at this since 2005. I've learned a lot since then, and have a lifetime of learning ahead of me. I found this forum and noticed a lot of experienced ranchers out there that have "been there, done that". I don't like recreating wheels, and would much rather learn from other folks experience if possible.
Thanks for any inputs you might have.
Calving season is May and June. Calves will go over the winter on their mama. Some steers we'll sell as grass finished beef off of our place at 24 months, some we'll sell as yearlings to other grass finishers at about 12 months, some we'll take to the sale barn at 12 months. We'll keep back some of the heifers for replacements, and we'll sell the rest to individuals or at the sale barn later in the fall.
So, how do I manage this without tags? We've always used ear tags, but it's my understanding that tagging wasn't done much prior to the 1950's as the technology didn't exist at that time.
As we continually try to minimize our inputs and labor, I'm trying to question everything we do to see if it is something that really adds value at sale time, meaning that it was a net profit after labor and expenses for that input, or is it something that we're doing "just because". Some things I do just because I like to, or because they make my life easier, but they don't make me any money. I'm ok with that, but I don't want to fool myself into thinking that it's also making me money.
I've only been at this since 2005. I've learned a lot since then, and have a lifetime of learning ahead of me. I found this forum and noticed a lot of experienced ranchers out there that have "been there, done that". I don't like recreating wheels, and would much rather learn from other folks experience if possible.
Thanks for any inputs you might have.