Shearwell Turbo Tagger

We've been using Allflex tags for years but their RapID tagger is getting clunky and unreliable having now tagged a good few thousand lambs. They aren't willing to supply me with another applicator FOC even if I order 1,500-2,000 tags so I'm considering moving supplier. The Turbo Tagger from Shearwell looks good but I've never seen one or used one. Anyone with any experience? Anyone used both the RapID tagger from Alflex and the Turbo Tagger? Which do you prefer?

Thanks.
 

Top Tip.

Member
Location
highland
We've been using Allflex tags for years but their RapID tagger is getting clunky and unreliable having now tagged a good few thousand lambs. They aren't willing to supply me with another applicator FOC even if I order 1,500-2,000 tags so I'm considering moving supplier. The Turbo Tagger from Shearwell looks good but I've never seen one or used one. Anyone with any experience? Anyone used both the RapID tagger from Alflex and the Turbo Tagger? Which do you prefer?

Thanks.
I use the Roxan tagger,I don’t think you will find a quicker way of tagging and I have found the retention rates good as well.
 

sean m

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northants
We've been using Allflex tags for years but their RapID tagger is getting clunky and unreliable having now tagged a good few thousand lambs. They aren't willing to supply me with another applicator FOC even if I order 1,500-2,000 tags so I'm considering moving supplier. The Turbo Tagger from Shearwell looks good but I've never seen one or used one. Anyone with any experience? Anyone used both the RapID tagger from Alflex and the Turbo Tagger? Which do you prefer?

Thanks.
used one all this season,very good,got a few roxan ones about the place if you can find them where i launched them you can have them
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Buying 2200+ Shearwell and they havnt given me a turbo tagger I had to buy my own, I bought one of the first released, it had a few issues where it wouldn’t always rotate the drum so another was sent out, the day it arrived I snapped a part on the mark 1 but thankfully I had a new one ready to go. Works very well, it can be a bit bulky when in the confinement of a weighcrate and you have to hold a lamb with 1 arm so the tagger doesn’t get sucked down into the crate which could break the machine.
but it is rapid at tagging stock, a disappointment is they don’t take the old drums back and offer a discount on the next lot that are filled. I have 3 feed bags full of drums that could all be used again 🤷🏻‍♂️ I am tempted on saving the drums and loading the drums myself, it could save me 5p/tag…. Good machine and highly recommend but the odd animal that’s ultra wide etc I will use a standard tagger.
 

DB67

Member
Location
Scotland
Does anyone using a turbo tagger find the jaws don't open wide enough to get tag over ears? Sometimes ear knocks a tag out and have to put in with standard taggers.
It’s a good machine but what you’ve said and also sometimes doesn’t release the tag perfectly and if the lamb pulls it’s head down it can pull the tagger with it.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
It’s a good machine but what you’ve said and also sometimes doesn’t release the tag perfectly and if the lamb pulls it’s head down it can pull the tagger with it.
Yes you need to angle the tagger forward to release it I think it is, not quite so easy in a confined crate
 

PhilipB

Member
Agree with both the above, if the tagged ear pulls away at the wrong angle then it takes the machine with it.

I went over from a roxan. Bulkier but less jams, and cheaper tags.

Very easy to load the drums yourself, or persuade a small child to do it for you.
 

Jimdog1

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Devon
I just re-use the 5 drums that came with the tagger. Rod that pushes tag into jaws broke 6 months in but Shearwell replaced f.o.c . As already said tag won't release if lamb ducks it head however once used you will not like going back to single tag applicator. 🙂
 

john135

Member
Livestock Farmer
hi has anyone on here had trouble with the shearwell turbo tagger, where the male spike of the tags come out of the jaws sideways and misses the female hole of the tag. you then have to pull the tag out by hand and use in manual tagger. I have had this problem very often.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
hi has anyone on here had trouble with the shearwell turbo tagger, where the male spike of the tags come out of the jaws sideways and misses the female hole of the tag. you then have to pull the tag out by hand and use in manual tagger. I have had this problem very often.
Yeah unless the ear is completely flat which can be annoying if bulk tagging in a race for example
 

SJamieson

Member
Mixed Farmer
Worst bit is if the tag doesn't release quickly, lamb yanks head down and the tagger rod and spring gets pulled painfully through your hand!

Very much agree with mentioned faults- jaws dont open wide enough, doesn't easily release tag.
Otherwise good.

I'd also like a discount for returning empty drums!
 
We've had many years of using Alflex's RapID tagger but when it caused problems after doing many thousands of tags I decided to try the Shearwell Turbo Tagger. I must admit that I don't like it and find it difficult to use for reasons mentioned above. The Alflex is far more reliable and I can't wait to get back to ordering more tags from them again. Shame as most of Shearwell's equipment is good.
 

Grassman

Member
Location
Derbyshire
Does anyone using a turbo tagger find the jaws don't open wide enough to get tag over ears? Sometimes ear knocks a tag out and have to put in with standard taggers.
I think it's probably better to not refill the drums till you are going to actually do the tagging. Then the tag has more springyness and is wider apart if you see what I mean.
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

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