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Ear tags provide a visual aid for unique identification (such as a flock or premise number) and can help to identify sex, year of birth, sire, dam and much more.
If you use tags in your breeding flock, it’s wise to install a tag in both ears when they are baby lambs. Why? Because tag wounds in lambs heal quickly with less infection risk than tag wounds in adult animals—and thus provides a pre-existing, clean, firm hole when a larger tag needs to be installed.
Here are some other helpful tips for how we use ear tags at Premier.
1. To indicate sex
Benefits:
- Allows rapid sorting by sex while sheep and goats are moving down a chute or in a holding pen.
- No need to spend valuable time to “check the plumbing” of each animal. Keeps your hands clean! To do this:
- Males: Insert the primary tag in left ear.
- Females: Insert the primary tag in right ear:
2. To indicate year of birth
Benefits: No need to catch them to check teeth. A tag can tell you the age from 25 ft away. Faster decisions when sorting for culling or breeding. Two ways to do this (we do both):
- Use a different color for each year.
- Begin tag number series with the year of birth. Example—tag 17275 indicates lamb is the 275th lamb tagged in 2017.
3. To indicate sire (and dam)
Benefit: No need to check records. Three ways to do this:
- Use a different color second tag for each sire (blue tags = Sire XYZ; purple tags = Sire ABC).
- Have sire name printed on the tag of its progeny.
- Handwrite the ewe’s tag number with a marking pen on the lamb’s tag. If space is limited write it on the inner surfaces of the tag. Note: Since tags can be lost, we strongly advise using 2 sire/dam tags (one in each ear).
4. To indicate problems
Benefit: Allows rapid, positive culling of animals with foot problems, dystocia, mastitis, prolapse, etc. Two ways to do this:
- Put a tag that says “cull” (or a black tag) into problem animals.
- Use an ear notcher to mark the animal for culling.
5. To indicate single, twin or triplet
Benefit: Speeds up sorting for breeding and sale purposes. Reduces need to consult records. To do this, use a different color for each lamb type. Repeat these colors every year. Premier’s code is:
- blue = single
- green = twin
- orange = triplet
Identical to plan when marking ewes or lambs with Sprayline.
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Many ear tag colors are now in stock and ready to ship. Order today to ensure you get the styles and colors you want. Most tag orders, including those custom-imprinted for you, ship within two business days of receiving the order.
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