ASO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 15, 1992
Animal ID System Important
(Continued from Page A 1)
mation. The greater the number of
animals the less the herd manager
can rely on memory to catch errors
and missing information about
each animal. Breeding, pregnancy
checking, milk recording, drying
cows off and culling, all rely on
being able to tie consistently
events to each animal. One of the
most identification intensive jobs
is using prostaglandin. Imagine
using prostaglandin when there is
a question about which cow is
checked open, which cow was
treated of those treated, which
cow did not come into heat?
There are a few simple ideas for
setting up a solid ID system.
1) Make it consistent. Can more
than one person on the farm deter
mine what the identification of the
next animal that enters the herd
will be? The rules for assigning a
new animal’s identity should be
simple enough for several people
to apply with the same results.
2) Use numbers. Avoid using
letters with numbers. Some day
you may want to use an on-farm
computer to manage your herd.
Letters in the animals’ ID makes it
more difficult to apply software
and slower to enter animals* iden
tification when referring to an ani
mal (you have to use the whole
key board rather than just the
numeric key pad).
3) Think of your calves and
your milking herd as one. There
should be no duplication between
calves’ and cows* identification.
Avoid any system that can result
with a calf the same number as a
cow.
4) Have a unique number for
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each cow. Rely on your records to
store information. Systems that try
to tell the animal’s year of birth,
dam, owner or source can cause
real headaches when you try to
stick to rules one through three.
5) Have a cross reference to
each cow ID. Probably not on
your farm, but on some farms, a
cow could lose a tag.
6) A tag for every cow, a cow
for every tag. Do not be afraid to
retire a tag when a cow leaves the
herd. Do not be afraid to throw a
tag out. Reusing tags can cause
problems that make any potential
savings irrelevant (Penny wise
and pound foolish?).
7) Let the animals’ identifica
tion be for life. Changing an ani
mal’s ID when she enters the
milking herd can only cause extra
work and extra confusion.
There is probably more than
one way to accomplish all of the
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above. Here is one way. The good
news is this system works, (it is
already used on many dairies) it is
inexpensive and can be started
quickly. It is easy to learn, remem
ber, teach and continue for a long,
long, time.
Get some National Standard
Series ear tags. Contact DHIA for
your tags. A case will likely hold a
thousand tags and cost about
seventy dollars. Buy two or three
cases in a straight series. The
numbers on each eartag will be
made up of your state number,
three letters and four numbers. If
you currently have cows num
bered up to 300, order your run to
start at 0350 to 0400. The next
animal that enters your herd, a calf
or purchased milker will be
assigned that number. Her metal
eartag will be state number, three
letters and 0350. Her plastic eartag
will be 350. The next animal will
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be number 351. By now you can
probably see a pattern.
Do not be afraid of numbers in
the thousands. This number infla
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harder to remember or cause inter
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think about your animals by pic
turing them in your head. Good
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Think about your ID system!
The right system will pay
dividends every day in the way
that only the truly simple, good
ideas can.
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Upperco, MD
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