Tag numbers

Luckysasha

Can someone help me out please. Novice landowners inherited suddenly. Limited knowledge of anything farming related. When we inherited the land there was a sitting tenant renting land and sheds. The sheds seem to be filled to bursting nearly overnight. When we questioned the tenant he told us the whole herd was his and in his name only. We know his herd number from the lease paperwork but is there anyway of knowing from the ear tags on the cattle if they belong to him. The number on the rage is **-*****-** then followed by a four digit number underneath

Kovu

Do you have any reason to be suspicious of him? As in you think he's putting in other peoples cattle there?

He could very easily have bought 20 or thirty cattle yesterday in a mart and had them delivered to the shed yesterday evening and that's why they filled up so quick. If he's renting the shed and paying you money I don't see how it should bother you.

Tbh I'd not be very happy if a person I was renting off decided to check up on my cattle tags.

Luckysasha

We suspect he is subletting the sheds that's why I'm asking

greysides

**-*****-**

The pattern above is incorrect. It should be **-*****-* on top and then **** on the bottom with the asterisks all being a number.

The first two numbers, ranging from 11 to 39 are a county code with some counties having more than one.

The next bunch of five are unique to the farm the animal was born in.

The last on top is a computer check digit.

The bigger four on the bottom are the animals individual number. It would have started with 0001 and increased by one with every other animal registered.

Only if all animals had the same first 7 digits would you be very close to safe in assuming they are all his own animals.

I sincerely doubt that ringing a DVO with an animal number would be helpful as I doubt they'd give out the owners name.

ganmo

a few years ago we had a stray sheep in with us, rang the dept to try and find the owner, they said the only ppl they could give the info to was the guards, the local station was a bit puzzled when we rang up asking them to ring the dept

blue5000

Sorry for your troubles OP.

Are you thinking some of the cattle belonged to your late relative? Perhaps there are blue, cattle identy cards in the house, these would have numbers on them as described above. They are A5 size.

Luckysasha

Thanks for that. No blue500 we know they are not belonging to our relative. The farm was destocked after he passed away. I know the passports your referring to. Am I right then in thinking the tag number is not indicative of the herd number ? So unless I know his individual numbering system I have no way of finding out if they are his or not

greysides

The first 2+5 digits of a tag number are known as the 'Herd Identifier'. They are unique to that farm in the same way the herd number is. In other words they are paired. However knowing one does not allow you to know the other. You would need to know the herd identifier of the herd in question to work out if the cattle originated in that herd.

Farrell

greysides wrote: »

The first 2+5 digits of a tag number are known as the 'Herd Identifier'. They are unique to that farm in the same way the herd number is. In other words they are paired. However knowing one does not allow you to know the other. You would need to know the herd identifier of the herd in question to work out if the cattle originated in that herd.

Yes but animals he purchased will have a different herd identifer, every animal in that shed could have a different herd of origin (especially if beef) & still belong to him.
As said above the gaurds are the only ones who can help, but it could take weeks to get an answer.
Issue with stray cattle here years ago, didn't belong to anyone local & nobody knew of anyone missing a few, gaurds contacted to see if they'd let the owner know, 3 weeks later the cattle had moved on (out farm), 3 weeks later gaurds let us know the owner (10 miles from home), who was frantically searching till he noticed them.