Soft cattle tags?

tractorporn

Seeing as its foaming rain here have been at a bit of paperwork. Have a cow to see and of course she's missing a tag so decided to order tags for a couple of animals. Going back through my notes I've noticed that this is my 3rd batch of tags I've ordered this year. Are the tags of lesser quality than before?? Do any of the rest of ye have the same problems with cattle loosing tags? I know the Dept have changed the tag tender process so I hope it will improve things.

pedigree 6

Yes.
Especially the white bvd tag. The plastic seems to be softer than it used to be.

whelan2

Had a weanling calf lost both tags. Had to take the numbers of all the calves and work out her number from agfood. Also reordered a tissue test tag on tuesday for one that was lost in the post, no sign of it yesterday. Rang eurotags, they lady said we dont use that machine much it will be early next week whe we make it. I have a man waiting to buy the calf...

blue5000

Failed to get a bvd tag into a stock bull today, just wouldn't go into his ear and bent up in sh1te. Same with one of the geno tags, hopefully there's enough of a scrape of ear in them for a sample. I reckon 15 - 20 % of our stock lose a tag each year, replaced a good few today, and it's not the first time doing it this year.

I hope mullinahole lose the tag contract this year.

whelan2

In fairness though the online ordering service is brilliant.

tractorporn

pedigree 6 wrote:

Yes. Especially the white bvd tag. The plastic seems to be softer than it used to be.

blue5000 wrote:

Failed to get a bvd tag into a stock bull today, just wouldn't go into his ear and bent up in sh1te. Same with one of the geno tags, hopefully there's enough of a scrape of ear in them for a sample. I reckon 15 - 20 % of our stock lose a tag each year, replaced a good few today, and it's not the first time doing it this year.

Haven't had too many problems with the white BVD/BDGP it's the ordinary yellow tags that like blue we seem to be replacing up to 20% of them year on year. I'm hoping that having 2 or three suppliers might force them to make them a bit stronger. Personally I wouldn't mind paying extra if I knew they would last the lifetime of the animal. At the moment we're putting 3/4 tags in each animal so your paying that much anyway!

Coolfresian

Iv also had to order several batches this year. It's getting really annoying. They seem to just break off and the newer tags are worse. The quailty of them really need to improve.

Bullocks

Why wouldn't they make them soft when they have it all their own way and can take a few quid off you for replacements . I hate hate hate having to replace tags !

whelan2

And then you can get penalised for ordering too many replacement tags

Coolfresian

whelan2 wrote: »

And then you can get penalised for ordering too many replacement tags

Does it trigger an inspection of u order too many? It's just seems a ridiculous situation given the quality of the tags.

tractorporn

whelan2 wrote:

And then you can get penalised for ordering too many replacement tags

Coolfresian wrote:

Does it trigger an inspection of u order too many? It's just seems a ridiculous situation given the quality of the tags.

Surely it's better to order the tags and have them in the animal rather than having cattle going round with one/no tags? Doesnt make sense as Fresian says given the tags are so poor!

whelan2

tractorporn wrote: »

Surely it's better to order the tags and have them in the animal rather than having cattle going round with one/no tags? Doesnt make sense as Fresian says given the tags are so poor!

Yes my mind is to order them as needed. Some lads on here seemed to be afraid to order double replacement tags as it might trigger an inspection,

patsy_mccabe

I have a cow that lost the back of both tags about 5 years ago. I ordered 2 replacements at the time and both are still in the drawer. The old tags haven't fallen out yet.
I wonder what the actual replacement rate is? Easy figure to call up on the database.

CowMeister

Coolfresian wrote: »

Does it trigger an inspection of u order too many? It's just seems a ridiculous situation given the quality of the tags.

Had an inspection earlier this year and the inspector said that every farmer should order tags at least twice a year because tags do fall out and that they look out for farmers that never order tags.

Base price

Also if you have a herd test and any show up with one tag then order in replacements.

Sam Kade

whelan2 wrote: »

And then you can get penalised for ordering too many replacement tags

But how do the department know how many replacement tags you order?

whelan2

Sam Kade wrote: »

But how do the department know how many replacement tags you order?

Eurotags have to get department approval on your order

Sam Kade

whelan2 wrote: »

Eurotags have to get department approval on your order

I had a cattle inspection earlier this year and a few cattle were missing tags I had to order them within 30 days and notify the department that I had ordered the tags.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Sam Kade wrote: »

I had a cattle inspection earlier this year and a few cattle were missing tags I had to order them within 30 days and notify the department that I had ordered the tags.

But the Dept have to approve the order so they already know if you have applied within the 30 days?

Farming is now a support industry for the Box Ticking industry:(

whelan2

Sam Kade wrote: »

I had a cattle inspection earlier this year and a few cattle were missing tags I had to order them within 30 days and notify the department that I had ordered the tags.

on Mullinahones website it says, on receipt of your order, your order is electronically sent to the dept of agriculture for authorisation

jfh

The genomic ear tags are desperate.
I've no issues with the yellow tags, they lose them over time, but the white genomic tags break while putting them in

blue5000

I think there should be at least 2 suppliers of tags so farmers have a choice instead of this tendering lark. We're supposed to be getting replacement tags within 3 working tags. Why does it take 5 or 6 weeks to get calf tags? Is it true they are made in France?

patsy_mccabe

You can't have 2 suppliers of tags. That would have all sorts of implications for the civil service. Competition does not sit well with their ethos.

paddysdream

blue5000 wrote: »

Failed to get a bvd tag into a stock bull today, just wouldn't go into his ear and bent up in sh1te. Same with one of the geno tags, hopefully there's enough of a scrape of ear in them for a sample. I reckon 15 - 20 % of our stock lose a tag each year, replaced a good few today, and it's not the first time doing it this year.

I hope mullinahole lose the tag contract this year.

What's the story with the IFA and their concern for Mullinahone loosing their monopoly on supplying cattle tags?

Poor D.D even had to write a couple of trenchant letters to the Journal and he after being turfed out on his ear last year.Thought the IFA were not in favour of monopolies and they after complaining about LG and his increased dominance in the Irish meat industry.

blue5000

paddysdream wrote: »

What's the story with the IFA and their concern for Mullinahone loosing their monopoly on supplying cattle tags?

Poor D.D even had to write a couple of trenchant letters to the Journal and he after being turfed out on his ear last year.Thought the IFA were not in favour of monopolies and they after complaining about LG and his increased dominance in the Irish meat industry.

Seems to be a complicated conflict of interests there. Maybe somebody in the know could tell us what is going on there?

Never wrestle with pigs

When are they going to have more supplyers doing the tags? Iv about 5/6 to order but I might hold untill the new supplyers start.

kowtow

They should set a much lower price.. less than cost... for replacements. If their profits were in the tags taht didnt fall out i bet there would be a bit of quality control.

Bullocks

kowtow wrote: »

They should set a much lower price.. less than cost... for replacements. If their profits were in the tags taht didnt fall out i bet there would be a bit of quality control.

Ive said it before , we should get paid for our time replacing their substandard tags .
The father was using plastic tags years before the mandatory tags came in (they were quicker to pick out than numbers on the brass tags )and if they fell out very very rarely the ear would have ripped rather than the tags opening. I must ask him where he used get them then

Buford T. Justice XIX

kowtow wrote: »

They should set a much lower price.. less than cost... for replacements. If their profits were in the tags taht didnt fall out i bet there would be a bit of quality control.

The tags are designed to fail!

When the original tagging proposal was being discussed, some animal rights crowd decided that tags needed to break before they were pulled out of cattles ears. So we now have tags that beak in a shower of rain and we get penalised if too many are missing despite them being designed to fail.

You couldn't make it up.

TalkingBull

jfh wrote: »

The genomic ear tags are desperate.
I've no issues with the yellow tags, they lose them over time, but the white genomic tags break while putting them in

plus once their in, the sample is taken and tag remains waiting to get caught in wire/string over the lifetime of the animal.

a hair sample is alls needed really!

Buford T. Justice XIX

TalkingBull wrote: »

plus once their in, the sample is taken and tag remains waiting to get caught in wire/string over the lifetime of the animal.

a hair sample is alls needed really!

They need the tag in the ear to prove that the animal whose sample is being tested is the animal whose number is on the tag.

whelan2

Tagged a calf yesterday and 1 tag gone today :mad:

pedigree 6

whelan2 wrote: »

Tagged a calf yesterday and 1 tag gone today :mad:

The bvd tag?

Bullocks

whelan2 wrote: »

Tagged a calf yesterday and 1 tag gone today :mad:

Happened me aswell last week , mention it to them when ordering a replacement in case it's a faulty batch sent out again !
I'm bulling them on the phone everytime I need to order replacements that I'm getting a few free now . I hate being a bollix to the girl on the phone but I hate tags falling out alot more .

I was tagging my few lambs the last evening and noticed how the tips of the tags were much harder and sharper , I know a lambs ear might be a bit softer than a calf's but they just flew in alot easier and I think it was down to tag quality . The irony then of course is that they were only needed to get into the factory !