Ear Tags

We have been using Ritchie engraveable tags and I really like them. You never have to worry about the numbers fading and are easy to read. However they seem to lose them pretty regularly. Re-tagged around 15 a couple of weeks ago and as of tonite 3 have already lost there tags. I didn't put them in the old holes either. Anyone have a certain brand of tags they recommend that they have had good luck with?

We use Hasco tags that we picked up at L'ville.  We can get them sig cheaper there on display, and it's almost worth it to loose them, sometime.

Might try branding...  but that isn't worth a crap on hairy ass show type cattle, especially in winter..

i like ear notching.. look odd, and no body else can read them.. but decent from a way off.  Also might be hard to read in winter on fuzzy earred ones..

We always used the Ritchey tags until a couple years ago.  I think whats happens is in the cold weather the plastic actually cracks, allowing the button to pull through.  I starting using Z Tags.  Have had really good luck with them staying in, and so far the ink doesn't seem to fade to bad.  and it allot easier to go tag calves when you don't have to carry a pocket of buttons , tags, and a tagger.  The one piece tag makes everything allot more user friendly.

We've had the best luck keeping Z-tags in the ear.    We noticed that the pen ink will fade but the bottle ink stays readable much much longer.

We have custom printed z tags, retagged the cow herd last winter before they started calving for ease of tagging babies as all tags were mismatched. Just started calving and have yet to see a cow without a tag.

Oh, this simply won't do! I just can't stand all these people quitting the Ritchey tags. Anyone use those solid arrow ones they have in their logo? I'd like to see how those work. As for us, never have lost a Ritchey tag that I can remember.

UPDATE on Ritchey ear tags. GREAT NEWS I saw the Ritchey ear tag people today at the NCBA convention in Denver. I told them the problem I was having with my tags. I found out they have been having problems with the button I was using. Told me to use the round ones. They apologized for the inconvenience and told me they would give me 10% off my next order. Made my day they tried to solve the problem.Just wanted to let everyone know after I bad mouthed their tags. MY BAD.

ztags

BCCC said:

We have custom printed z tags, retagged the cow herd last winter before they started calving for ease of tagging babies as all tags were mismatched. Just started calving and have yet to see a cow without a tag.

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Where did you get the Z tags printed?

We used to use Ritchie until we turned out our heifers in the spring and when they came home in the fall over half had lost their tags. We had about 80 heifers that year, so I switched to Z tags.

Ive always used Ytex.  Not sure why but they seem to hold #s and dont come out unless they rip their ear.  JMO

We have used Z tags for several years now and we like them.  Loose one once in a while but overall they stay in well.  Really like the ease of tagging with a mad cow breathing down your neck, never have to worry about the button and tag lining up or ripping and ear with the tagger.

We have the same problem with ritchie tags also.  The tags dont seem to stay in, but the ones that do, you dont have to worry about the tags fadding. 

I ordered my custom  z-tags thru my IBA dairy supply route man. But I know QC Supply will do it. Usually QC are cheapest. go to www.qcsupply.com and get their number and call them. I printed my farm name on above the number and had them LASER print both sides and I think 50 tags with the one time art fee was $140?  (only get laser printing) Next time will just be extra charge for 2 side printing and a small fee for farm name. Well worth both things for sorting cows to knowing if you have a cow out she has your name on it.

This year I ordered custom tags for my tag through www.customcattletags.com They looked great and are made by Destron Fearing - http://cdycattle.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-i-gave-for-christmas-cows-books.html for a picture of them. We'll see how they stay in, but these are the same tags that are used for some Age and Source programs so I think they should be good.