Tagging Techniques

Tagging Techniques

Subscribers share their ideas for herd identification.

by Kasey Miller

Last year, we posed a question to our Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA subscribers: What type of numbering system do you use to identify your calf crop?

For example, in Editor Shauna Hermel's family herd, they use a three-digit number with the first digit being the year and the last two digits being the sequence of the calf of that gender born that year. This means that 907 would be the seventh heifer or bull calf born in 2009. They put the dam's tag number small above the calf ID number and color-code the tags by sire. Of course, a herd expecting more than 99 bull and 99 heifer calves would need to go to a four-digit calf number to use a similar system.

Z designated letter for permanent ID in 2012

International letters are designated for each year of birth for livestock identification (ID). These designated letters are an easy option to use in conjunction with numbers when permanently identifying animals. For example, Z001 and Z002 could designate the first two calves born into your herd in the year 2012. International letter code is optional for Angus breeders.

For complete information about permanent ID and naming animals, visit www.angus.org, and click on Rules and Forms to access Part 4 of the online Breeder's Reference Guide.

There were five major trends that emerged from the 99 responses to our tagging survey last year — three- or four-digit numbers that included the birth year, using the dam's number, using the international ID letter, color coding of tags, and tagging on the right ear or left ear depending on gender.

Many producers used more than one of these trends, and that explains why the number of responses adds up to more than 99. A few representative responses that used many trends are shown here.

Out of 99 responses, 79 producers used the three- or four-digit numbering system that included the birth year. There were variations that began with the year as the first number, followed by the sequence of calving, all or some form of the dam's number, or using even or odd numbers depending on bull or heifers. In some herds, producers used a number or letter to designate whether the calf was an embryo transplant (ET) or artificial insemination (AI) calf.

The dam's number was used by 37 of the producers. Producers used the dam's numbers to match calves and dams at a glance, and the dam's number on the calf's tag also helps producers see if a calf is suckling off of another female. It was also used to keep track of how long a dam has been in productivity by numbering the calves in sequence by dam's number (or letter), or see which calves are out of a dam's line.

Sixteen producers used the international ID letter, in addition to additional numbering systems.

Color coding was used by 26 producers, either for season of calving, by sire, by dam or by whether the calf was a heifer or bull.

Right and/or left ear tagging, used by nine producers, was used to easily distinguish the sex of the calf at first glance.

Many systems wrote dam or sire information and birth date on their tags, used a national electronic ID, double tagged or used brisket tags. Several used the same tattoo as their tags, too.

Thank you to all the producers who responded to the survey via email.

Tagging examples

"In our registered Angus herd, we use the same numbering system Shauna described, but do not color code the tags. One small thing we do differently is tag heifers in the left ear and bulls in the right to aid us when we sort later. Heifers are tagged in the left because the veterinarian uses the right ear for the brucellosis vaccination tattoo and metal tag.

"For our commercial herd, we tag the first calf with number 1, the second with number 2 and so on throughout the calving season. We switch tag color for the different seasons. Fall calves will be orange and spring calves will have a white tag. The next year we will use yellow and red. This helps with our recordkeeping from year-to-year. Also, as mentioned above, heifers are tagged in the left ear and bulls in the right."

— Kendra Graham

"We tag heifers in yellow tags and steers with orange tags. We like to have different colors so it is easy to tell at a glance whether the calf is a heifer or steer. We tag heifers and bull calves with their mothers' tag number. (We can tell if a calf is nursing its mother or someone else's mother.) The heifers that we hold back after they calve, we assign new permanent tag numbers. We have all cows tagged and tattooed, so if we lose an ear tag we can check the cow's tattoo."

— Lynn Messer

"We put ear tags in the calves to correspond with the dam. Pink ones in the right ear for the heifers or blue in the left ear for bulls. This helps with sorting at branding, weaning and shipping. All replacement heifers get brisket tags numbered the same as Shauna did in her example, but we keep the ear tag because it is an easy real-time visual reference back to the dam. We have 800 cows, so it is hard to keep them all in your mind when you are calving, riding, or matching moms and babies."

"We age-brand the replacements with the year born so that even if one tag goes missing, we have a cross reference with the age brand and the other tag. So far we haven't had one show up with no tags. We are in some pretty rugged mountainous country."

— Allison Florance

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