Sheep ear tags ?? The reference thread.

[Bury the Trash]

None of them are what they could be ime. what are the differences, how can they be improved what is your experience /wish for them accepting that we are stuck with the actual use of them, that is..

So that if they so wished, to make their product better for the sheep (and the shepherd ) Manufacturers / their reps can look and see what the facts are in real life use /experience because surely they haven't look into the subject well enough yet despite all the years and money spent by us .

 

[Bury the Trash]

e.g.
Qwik tag Eid one

good tag but if the eid bit was rounded /smoothed out then there would be less chance of catching .
otherwise an ideal length and clearance tough plastic and a hinge bit that's thicker than a Set Tag ..
It reads very well ime maybe helped by the chip being up top ,less obtrusive inside the ear as well better for the animal only thing is the chip rattles around a bit which might not help in the long run.
the non eid one is of a different shape not just same but no chip which is good because it very good slim and smooth .
they have Very Good applicators for these as well .

so iyswim with a few tweeks these tags could be very good i reckon.

 

[M-J-G]

We bought Lleyns in a couple of years ago and they all still have both tags
I'll need to have a look at what they are.

 

[M-J-G]

e.g.
Qwik tag Eid one
View attachment 1135842
good tag but if the eid bit was rounded /smoothed out then there would be less chance of catching .
otherwise an ideal length and clearance tough plastic and a hinge bit that's thicker than a Set Tag ..
It reads very well ime maybe helped by the chip being up top ,less obtrusive inside the ear as well better for the animal only thing is the chip rattles around a bit which might not help in the long run.
the non eid one is of a different shape not just same but no chip which is good because it very good slim and smooth .
they have Very Good applicators for these as well .

so iyswim with a few tweeks these tags could be very good i reckon.

We use them, I also use the management tag for ewe lambs, but we've lost quite a few of them desolate them not having the raised part.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Roxan tagfaster (breeder seen here ) is a nicely rounded tag theoretically well designed and ,compact but could be a bit wider fro a thicker ear and longer and the hinge isnt very big .A very good pin but it will still at times go sideways in application not helped by the manual applicators that are availiable ,the jaws on them dont even line up very well and the male side dont hold the tag in very firmly /low sides ..... as seen here on a pair thats vertually new..

 

[ISCO]

Roxan tagfaster (breeder seen here ) is a nicely rounded tag theoretically well designed and ,compact but could be a bit wider fro a thicker ear and longer and the hinge isnt very big .A very good pin but it will still at times go sideways in application not helped by the manual applicators that are availiable ,the jaws on them dont even line up very well and the male side dont hold the tag in very firmly /low sides ..... as seen here on a pair thats vertually new..

View attachment 1136012

We have just gone back to these after a few years on shearwell. We have the tag faster pliers from a few years ago which were good but I have forgotten how to load them so using the manual pliers which are rubbish. Tags don't fit well and too many pins wander off course ss you say.
Good tags but I must refresh my memory on loading the auto tagger.

 

[Bury the Trash]

We have just gone back to these after a few years on shearwell. We have the tag faster pliers from a few years ago which were good but I have forgotten how to load them so using the manual pliers which are rubbish. Tags don't fit well and too many pins wander off course ss you say.
Good tags but I must refresh my memory on loading the auto tagger.

It wont be like these?
push in the orange button and feed in tags at the same time then pull back one to prime ...
Roxan id ones about 20yr old i guess still works and i even manged to find a few fine pinned tags.tucked away in the dusty corner ... feed mechanism used to jam a bit but a quick wiggle and on again, quite a nice satisfying nice cutting action ..

 

[Tamar]

A good idea would be to do away with the compulsory use of them altogether.

Have they really made the food chain any safer ?

They cost me over £1000 every year, so have cost the industry millions.

 

[Bury the Trash]

This isn't to discuss that as said in the op, its to suggest to the makers that something should be designed and built that is fit for (the longterm ) purpose , when clearly they aren't.



Course Tagfaster is a tag designed with auto applicator in mind whereas Shearwell set tag came before the applicators .

Imo tags should be designed to stay a long time and be the best they can be for the animal . speed fitting Breeder tags shouldnt be such an issue , take a bit trouble over fitting them because after all it could potentially be in there for up tp what 7 8 10 yrs , yeah well we know it wont be dont we

Different types could be made for slaughter and then again breeders cheaper smaller whatever for the former more attention to detail for lngevity for the latter ...

why should they bother to improve their product if there's not a decent profit in it ? well then why the heck should we.. .

 

[sheepdogtrail]

Roxan tagfaster (breeder seen here ) is a nicely rounded tag theoretically well designed and ,compact but could be a bit wider fro a thicker ear and longer and the hinge isnt very big .A very good pin but it will still at times go sideways in application not helped by the manual applicators that are availiable ,the jaws on them dont even line up very well and the male side dont hold the tag in very firmly /low sides ..... as seen here on a pair thats vertually new..

View attachment 1136012

Do you know if this tag is made the same way as the yellow slaughter tag?

TagFaster Single EID Slaughter Tags

PLEASE ORDER IN MULTIPLES OF 20 Single EID Batch Tags. Standard colours Yellow tag, black fixings Standard print Flock No.

www.tagfaster.com

I am looking for a cheap EID tag they weighs 2.5 grams or less that I can use at birth and this is the cheapest one I can find.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Do you know if this tag is made the same way as the yellow slaughter tag?

TagFaster Single EID Slaughter Tags

PLEASE ORDER IN MULTIPLES OF 20 Single EID Batch Tags. Standard colours Yellow tag, black fixings Standard print Flock No.

www.tagfaster.com

I am looking for a cheap EID tag they weighs 2.5 grams or less that I can use at birth and this is the cheapest one I can find.

Yes the slaughter tags are exactly the same as them and they weigh about 2 grams. (whereas for comparison a shearwell set tag weighs about 3 grams )

 

[sheepdogtrail]

Yes the slaughter tags are exactly the same and they weigh about 2 grams. (whereas for comparison a set tag weighs about 3 grams )

Thanks. I will give them a try. I suppose I will get the manual pliers to evaluate the tags in my production. Although I can see the benefit of the auto tagger I want to make sure the tag is going to work for me.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Thanks. I will give them a try. I suppose I will get the manual pliers to evaluate the tags in my production. Although I can see the benefit of the auto tagger I want to make sure the tag is going to work for me.

The individual/single tag applicators will do it and be better to see and get the positioning of the tag in the ear /less clumsy . Just take care with fitting the tag in them /press the male end in snugly and try not to let the animal move just before/ on application else the pin might move out of alignment same with all tagging i guess.

What is also different about that particular tag is the pin size.
it is of a smaller diameter than the others which makes for it to be easy to go through the ear but still strong enough .

The early ones from Roxan had an even smaller pin which had its own problems.

 

[gatepost]

Shearwell, for a long time, then plastic became soft/brittle, too many loses, moved to \Roxann, hopeless for pedigree tags as I can't read them and nos disappear, tried their larger individual pairs, ok, horrible tagger. now back with Shearwell for ped tags, still looseing too many, Roxann tag faster for slaughter tags, which I get on well with, but I have had whole strips of tags which didn't close properly, they did supply new ones. As above cost me hundreds a year , and a constant replacement order for ped tags.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Shearwell, for a long time, then plastic became soft/brittle, too many loses, moved to \Roxann, hopeless for pedigree tags as I can't read them and nos disappear, tried their larger individual pairs, ok, horrible tagger. now back with Shearwell for ped tags, still looseing too many, Roxann tag faster for slaughter tags, which I get on well with, but I have had whole strips of tags which didn't close properly, they did supply new ones. As above cost me hundreds a year , and a constant replacement order for ped tags.

@neilo is using Caisley big ones now for his Pedigrees so he says ? guaranteed to read so it says on their website ,depends if you fancy flag /button ones tho i guess.

 

[neilo]

Shearwell, for a long time, then plastic became soft/brittle, too many loses, moved to \Roxann, hopeless for pedigree tags as I can't read them and nos disappear, tried their larger individual pairs, ok, horrible tagger. now back with Shearwell for ped tags, still looseing too many, Roxann tag faster for slaughter tags, which I get on well with, but I have had whole strips of tags which didn't close properly, they did supply new ones. As above cost me hundreds a year , and a constant replacement order for ped tags.

I changed to the Caisley flag tags on the pedigree lambs last year, after having to replace too many Shearwell tags, too frequently. Replacing replacements really gets my goat!

They are the same tags that the Beltex and Dutch Spotted societies specify and retention has been excellent (2 lost out of about 450 tags put in so far). They come in strips of individual plastic bags, which would be a pita for using on big numbers in the field, but manageable for smaller numbers in a shed. They are also expensive compared to the SET tags (& similar) at over £2 a pop, but I'll take that for retention.
You do get a pack of Haribo with every order too...

 

[Nithsdale]

It wont be like these?
push in the orange button and feed in tags at the same time then pull back one to prime ...
Roxan id ones about 20yr old i guess still works and i even manged to find a few fine pinned tags.tucked away in the dusty corner ... feed mechanism used to jam a bit but a quick wiggle and on again, quite a nice satisfying nice cutting action ..View attachment 1136194

That is the old pre-eID Roxan auto tagger. Not the same as the eID auto tagger - that old one might actually work to tag a lamb/ewe, but there's no hold/support of the 20 tags which will hang off the side and flat about getting caught in wool when tagging a lamb/ewe.



I use them for slaughter tags and get on fine with the autotagger despite many complaints on here. Keep it clean, store it indoors and wash it with warm soapy water only - NEVER lubricate the moving parts/hinges.



Use Cox Qwik-eid for my breeding tags, have done since the start of eID in 2010 and very happy with them.
The single fault there is; the visual numbers do rub off with time, however - Cox/Allflex changed the print/laser maybe 3 years ago now and so far that has made a big improvement (still need to wait and see what they are like at 6+ years)

 

[Cheesehead]

Just out of interest what is the incentive for them to make a better tag as speaking to an inspector most he goes to will put in a new spare tag and cross-reference the new number with the old to save recording the number ordering replacements then getting them back in again. The only ones he had seen do that were with pedigree ram.



The companies know that so why make them better if you sell more because they lost by selling them extras as spares.

 

[gatepost]

I changed to the Caisley flag tags on the pedigree lambs last year, after having to replace too many Shearwell tags, too frequently. Replacing replacements really gets my goat!

They are the same tags that the Beltex and Dutch Spotted societies specify and retention has been excellent (2 lost out of about 450 tags put in so far). They come in strips of individual plastic bags, which would be a pita for using on big numbers in the field, but manageable for smaller numbers in a shed. They are also expensive compared to the SET tags (& similar) at over £2 a pop, but I'll take that for retention.
You do get a pack of Haribo with every order too...

That's it, Haribo, sold! I am a bit worried though, we use Haribo to bait the Rat traps!

 

[Bury the Trash]

That is the old pre-eID Roxan auto tagger. Not the same as the eID auto tagger - that old one might actually work to tag a lamb/ewe, but there's no hold/support of the 20 tags which will hang off the side and flat about getting caught in wool when tagging a lamb/ewe.



I use them for slaughter tags and get on fine with the autotagger despite many complaints on here. Keep it clean, store it indoors and wash it with warm soapy water only - NEVER lubricate the moving parts/hinges.



Use Cox Qwik-eid for my breeding tags, have done since the start of eID in 2010 and very happy with them.
The single fault there is; the visual numbers do rub off with time, however - Cox/Allflex changed the print/laser maybe 3 years ago now and so far that has made a big improvement (still need to wait and see what they are like at 6+ years)

no, the new tagfasters tags wont fit at all in that old applicator not even with modification i dont think

but yes i like those qwiktags and as said the hinge is thicker than the shearwell set and its a bit longer as well but no heavier.

just a pity imo that the chip holder 'box' couldnt be rounded for even less of a potential catch in wire reason.