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Watonwan County MN | I'm tired of losing eartags in my heifers and cows. I've been using All-Flex tags, but only a few are holding on. Are neck chains and tags better than ear tags? I'm getting frustrated with my poor memory as to which cow which calf came from. What all do you guys use?
EDIT: Tags are Duflex, not All-Flex
Edited by mr.agco 4/13/2011 17:30
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SE SD | freeze brand cows, ritchie arrowhead tags in calves |
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| Z tags in calves, brisket tags in cows |
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South Dakota | Freeze brand cows, Z tag the calves. |
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swmn | we use brisket tags in our holsteins |
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| BocLoc brisket tags in cows, Y Tex tags in calves. I firmly believe in brisket tags. I've had them for over 20 years. |
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Northwest Kansas | Use 2 Z-tags. They may lose one, but they rarely loose two. We also started using their feedlot tags in the cows and calves. Same point but the tag is thinner and lighter. But the best thing is the are about 1/4 the price of the regular tags. |
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North Mo. | I have trouble getting them in the applicator. Ben |
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sc ia | Are you careful about getting all the twine off your hay bales? |
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Northeast Iowa | I've used Ritchey tags since 1998. Started with their two-piece solid arrow-style buttons and didn't like the applicator or their retention. Then switched to Allflex buttons and had good results with those until the last two years when retention became a problem. Anything that gets lost and later found has been more or less a button failure and not a tag failure. When I went to order tags from Ritchey this year, I noticed they had only Y-tex buttons and no Allflex, so maybe I'm not the only one with Allflex button problems. The Ritchey arrowhead style tags look great, but I remember an incident with a blade-style applicator when I was young and I'd rather not mess with a sharp edge like that when I grab for an applicator with an anxious mother breathing down my neck as I try to tag her calf.
I also put a steel Hasco ear tag (similar to Bangs tag) with a four-digit number in one ear as a more permanent ID. Quicker and easier than a tattoo, but only readable in a headgate. Cows get two Ritchey tags when they enter the herd their first calving season. Calves get the Hasco tag and one Ritchey tag when they're born. For all the power you can gain from information, tag expenses pay for themselves in a hurry.
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| RLFarmer - 4/13/2011 19:40
Use 2 Z-tags. They may lose one, but they rarely loose two. We also started using their feedlot tags in the cows and calves. Same point but the tag is thinner and lighter. But the best thing is the are about 1/4 the price of the regular tags.
Ya and they don't last as long. Were using the Y-tags now, same style. same price just a little thicker than the feedlot Z-tags were. |
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Stratton, Ontario, Canada | Did the same thing. Arrow-style buttons were junk. Separated after only a few years or wore a large enough hole into the ear to fall out. Ritchey applicator was terrible too. The cheap plastic Y-Tex buttons are a joke.
Switch to the Allflex buttons, but still lose tags to cracked buttons. I wonder if a different button like a Duflex or Temple would be better.
Cows get Ritchey tags. Would like to eventually freeze brand.
Calves use to get Allflex, but I have started using Z-Tags. Allflex is a terrible company to file complaints with, and therefore a terrible company altogether. Having fought with them before, the less business I can give them, the more warm and fuzzy I feel.
On the other hand, Z-Tags is a great company to deal with. |
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Sunnyside, WA | RFID |
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NW MINN | I'd been using Fearing Tuff-Flex tags for years but they are unavailable now so switched to Richey Z tags. My only complaint on the Tuff-Flex was the marking pen ink faded after3-4 years. That too was a problem with Boc-Loc brisket tags. |
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Saskatchewan, Canada | WE loose the RFID tags too. |
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| RFID tags are junk and should be banned. Just another reason for the Government to have that much more control over our lives. Z tags are the only way to go. |
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Driftless SW Wisconsin | I use the Destron Fearing tag system and have found the only two my cattle have lost in the past couple years have been due to the use of one particular round bale hay feed ring. This particular ring that seems to cause eartag loss has bent Zee shaped neck rails. My other types of bale feeders (I have 5 different types) including a similar ring with straight (not Zee) diagonal neck bars do not seem to cause eartag loss like the one with the Zee shaped neck bars. So my conclusion from this is that eartag retention is more of a function of type of bale feeder than anything else. Probably has a lot to do with how/where the tags are inserted in the ear also. I am switching to an RFID button system to help me in frequent weighings. I do not see RFID as a government plot, I am doing it because it seems to make my life easier and any cattle I do sell at various sales should bring a premium for age and source verification. This is because more premium buyers want to know where their cattle are coming from, not a government plot. I am using a Destron Fearing 2-piece system on retained animals with a yellow preprinted visual tag in the left ear and a matching RFID button in the right ear. Both have the 840 number on them. The right ear is closest to me in my alley/scale/chute system and easiest to read with the wand as they are on the scale. It seems like it would be unlikely to lose both button and visual tag, especially once I do a better job of installing the buttons deeper in the ear next time. On animals not likely to be retained they get a Destron Fearing one piece white combination RFID/blank tag where I write the animal's number on it (cow number plus the year letter - 2011 calves are "Y") and the first time through the scale I enter the visual tag number (such as "66Y"), read the rfid tag, press "record" on the scale indicator and the visual and rfid numbers are then associated with each other for the future and saved with the current weight. I'm just getting started with RFID but so far it looks like it will do what I want it to do. I see a lot of folks use the Z tag system. They must have an rfid version also? I think RFID makes sense - sort of like going from a pencil and paper system to computerization of records. Just an evolution of technology - not a government plot! jmho. Jim at Dawn edit: I see Z tags do offer an RFID tag also.
Edited by Jim 4/14/2011 23:20
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sc ia | Jim - 4/14/2011 12:47
I do not see RFID as a government plot, Just an evolution of technology - not a government plot!
You wont be saying that when the government wants to put one in your ear. |
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West Central Illinois | I'm with Jim on the RFID tags. We use them in swine for the same purposes. The RFID tag is scanned and associated with the regular tag in the opposite ear. We then scan them with a wand and all the information is transfered to a computer file without us touching a button on the computer. This allows us to keep accurate records and the packer can also scan them for carcass data without us having to tattoo each animal. We use them on around 10,000 finishing hogs per year and we lose less than 1% of the tags, thus very good retention. Has nothing to do with the government, just useful for accurate and simple record keeping. |
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Saskatchewan, Canada | RFID would be better if they would stay in. In 2007 we put in 75 in the spring and in the fall we had to replace 20 of them and then in the spring of 2008 another 30 were lost and had to be replaced. Can't count on them for accurate ID when the are always being lost. We generally lost about 10% of the RFID and the dangle tags. And no it's not because of string on bales, as most were lost in pasturs with a little bush. Nothing last forever. We just deal with it. |
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Sunnyside, WA | Sounds like I'm in the minority on RFID tags. We started 4 years ago with them in our dairy herd. Have put in thousands so far. Have lost less than 1% of the total.
We use them for management of the herd more than "government tracking." Have three Allflex wands that work with our herd management software. Weekly vet check, moving cows, vaccinations, etc is all done with RFID. Also have daily milk meters in the parlor and use the RFID to identify cows.
Have a lot more trouble losing regular eartags. We have 3 forms of ID: Eartag, RFID tag, and bangs vaccination tag. RFID is usually the last one to be lost. |
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| Seems to me Canadians are forced to use RFID tags by Law for Government tracking of all cattle. |
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New Ulm, MN | we use em too, Dads a big promoter of them, I really dont care, We still have to Tattoo the guerndogs, Plus we use the RFID 15 digit number for the Reg number, Guernsey dont always get all the numbers put in right. Plus we have no fancy wand to read them, so for me there pointless I still have to read a tatto for a positive ID. I wish Dad would understand what a pointless Pain in the Dick they really are for us if we arent gonna get a reader for them. |
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Driftless SW Wisconsin | I think the Canadian requirement to use RFID tags came about because of the BSE outbreak that basically shut down the Canadian cattle industry for awhile. It makes sense to be able to track where a particular animal came from after an outbreak like that. might keep from having to destroy a large number of other unaffected cattle just because you were not sure where they came from or had been. Canada is also using rfid as a means of rebuilding world confidence in Canadian cattle. I like RFID because it helps me in my operation. I have a premesis ID and don't mind at all that my cattle can be tracked back to me. There will come a day in the US also where all cattle are identified where they came from. Why worry about it if age/source verification brings a premium price? Unless someone has something to hide. jmho. Jim at Dawn |
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| And you think there is no BSE in the USA, funny. What premium price? |
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| I'm required to Tag all of mine in Michigan. Normally tag calves at weaning and will loose some by market time. Dont bother on cows because they will loose them, only put it in if shipping to stockyards. Just big PIA to me and $2 per tag that I have to spend. |
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Eastern Ont | The goverment wants every cow tagged but cant find all the illegal immigrants
We should just give every immigrant a cow
Edited by ayrporte 4/15/2011 10:27
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Kingston,Mi | Michigan has required RIFD tags for years due to a TB outbreak in deer camp country. Movement between producers such as calves to finisher require tags, cattle born and held on a farm until shipped directly to a processor do not (small, state kill and locker plant), those that may leave to large facility get them on the truck. My calves that I purchase have the tag installed between the hutch and the trailer.
So as much as some hate RIFD's, if you are selling feeders into Michigan, you will be using them. We may not be a giant amoung feeder states but still have some facilities within the Thumb that have between 10,000 and 20,000 head capacity and quite a few up to 2500 head. Neighbor runs 1000 to 1200 head and most of his are source in the Carolinas and Virginia. |
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Northeast Iowa | I put RFID tags in my fed cattle and get complete carcass data back on them for free. In fact, there's also a rebate on the tags, so they end up costing only $1.25 or so. The Age & Source premium has been $35 per head the last few years, and it wouldn't surprise me to see it go higher this year. That's enough revenue over expenses to make it worthwhile for me. |
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Ear tags
