Calf Ear Rings..

Like many people we tag our calves within a few hours of being born.  This way we can identify them.  After a few they all start looking alike when they are the same color.  Or like this year they are all boys and just one little girl so far.  All of our cows has a number for her place in the herd. So that's how we tag the calves.  And then if we end up keeping a heifer she gets the same number as her mom with the year she was born added. 

this is the tagging gun.  the tag goes into certain parts to clip the tag in the calves ear.

we have a few cows that mark and his brother share.  so those calves get yellow tags.
that way when he's here he knows which calves are which.
the top number is the cows number, the bottom number is the day the calf was were born.

then the other side is the sires (daddy) name.

i wanted to show how big the tags are.  they look huge, but as they grow they fit perfect.

this is how the tags go into the tagging gun.

you have to feel the calves ear and hit a certain spot.
they have cartilage and vessels in their ears, just like us.
so we try to center the tag between all of that and then they are less likely to rip them out also.

when we are out checking the tags make it easier to put calf with cow.
this year all but two of our calves are solid black.  we have this blazed bull and an orange/white bull.
so the tags are a great help when we are checking to make sure everyone is healthy.

When the calves are weaned they will be processed.  Meaning we will take these tags out, give shots, treat for lice and castrate the bulls. The bulls go to sell to buy new bred cows or heifers.  If we decide to keep any of the heifers they get a new tag.  And it's a different kind that is less likely to rip or snag.  We try to put the new tag in the same hole as the original tag, so they only have one hole in their ear.  They then will be given a forever number that matches their moms. 

For instance Buckwheat (Lily's mom) is #22, and Lily is #022 because she was born in 2010 and her moms number is 22.  Lily is due to calve in 2 weeks.  If she has a heifer and we keep it, that calves number will be #222.  And we do have software that helps up keep track of everything with our cattle.  Shots, calving, death, selling, weaning, weights, what pasture they are in.  Even our semen and embryos.  It's very helpful when you want to look back at performance on certain cow families.  Till next time!