tattooing of market steers

[cowzrus]

How many people tattoo market steers in both ears prior to selling them as show calves?  Is this a common practice in market steers or is tattooing generallydone on steers that have already been through a market show and sale?  There is a qustion in ethics at a recent show in which the champion had both ears tattoed.  We were just curious to what the industry is doing these days.  The livestock super thought it was the dams number tattoed in the ears.  Others think the ethics are questionable due to the person it came from.  Any insight would be helpful

 

[red]

I'm not sure what you mean. Some people put the herd prefix in one ear & the year code & herd number in the other. Or were they 2 totally different tattoo>

Red

 

[fluffer]

I am with red on this one, I don't think I understand what you mean.  Most of the time you put the calfs tatto in 1 ear and his prefix in the other ear.  I suppose you could put his tattoo in both ears just so you didn't have to remember which ear to look into when checking his tattoo, or if the 1st tattoo isn't legable for some reason.  As long as there aren't 2 totally different tattoos I don't think it would be an issue.

fluffer

 

[cowzrus]

The calf had the same tattoo in both ears.  He was a steer.  What I am asking is if it is Common practice for a breeder to tattoo a "MARKET STEER" not breeding animal?  I have never had a market steer tattoed by breeder, the only tattoos we come across are usually cattle that have been sold previously through a Jr. Livestock auction.  the calf had One tattoo each ear and a 4 digit tat 2 letters 2 numbers identical in each ear. 

 

[3GCC]

maybe they were going to keep him a bull and changed there mind. we did this this year and registered as a bull then changed our mind and steered him later.

 

[fluffer]

Even Market Steers- if they are going to show as breed steers will need tattoos.  It is the breeders preference I guess if they want to put 1 in each ear.  Good luck  ;D

Fluffer

 

[shortyisqueen]

We tattoo everything that is born on the place...since they are done at about 8 hours old, so all our market steers sell with tattoos. We put both the tattoo and prefix in one ear though...tag goes in the other...

 

[kanshow]

We used to tattoo all the PB calves when we tagged right after they were born.  There for plenty of bulls got tattooed that later ended up to be steers.  We;ve moved away from that practice and gone to tattooing at weaning because it is just easier.  We put the same number in both ears  - year prefix and calf's individual number.  Also,  I believe that some breeds (Angus is one?) require that the calf be registered to show as a PB steer? 

 

[Ruebush Shorthorns]

Can someone explain the year prefix and calf number deal for tattooing.  I have had purebred for 3 year snow and must be doing it all wrong.  Point me in the right direction please.  Thanks

 

[shortyjock89]

Yeah, I'm not sure what the issue is...we tatoo everything at a really young age, so of course all the steers are tatoo'ed.  Maybe it's just because we have a purebred operation. 

 

[garybob]

It would also serve as a pretty-good way to prevent good, winning steers from having so many different "owners and addresses"& winning two or three State Fairs, same as nose-prints for Barrows and Wethers(required for our State Fair).

GB

 

[Jill]

Purebred Angus animals all have tattoos in both ears, don't know if any other breeds do that or not.  There is nothing strange about having a tattoo in the ear of a market steer.

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

Every calf we raise has a breeders code in its right ear and individual ID number in the left ear as required by our association.

 

[daydreamingacres]

Can someone explain the year prefix and calf number deal for tattooing.  I have had purebred for 3 year snow and must be doing it all wrong.  Point me in the right direction please.  Thanks

every year there is  a different letter to identify the year. This year the letter is "U" and a calf number is issued mostly going from the first calf of 2008  being "1" and so on.... Personally my farm and the farm i used to work at the calf's tattoo would be the farm ID mine is "DDA" in one ear and "1U" wold be in the other. This makes it easier for people to identify how old an animal really is. There are sever letters that are missed because they look alike. so a cow from our farm has a tattoo of "DDA" 01M"  that means she was born in 2002 and was the first calf. I hope this helps! please help me if i am wrong!

 

[red]

I do the same but tattoo in one ear. We use our herd prefix of MCNB & then what number the calf is in relationship to all calves born. Then use the year's intial at the end. For example MCNB45U Would be the 45th calf born on our place in 2008.
We also will tattoo steers if we register them to be shown in breed classes. If they just go to the farm don't generally. we also tattoo when we wean. Just saves the extra handling for us.

What was the tatoo in question?

Red

 

[Jill]

We used to tattoo everything at birth, but found that a lot of them as they grow we couldn't see the tattoo by the time we were showing them, so we do it a weaning now.  I can tell you every registered calf that leaves our farm has a tattoo in the ear, but I know there are some that don't tattoo steers.  I do know MCF doesn't tattoo steers breed or not,(not sure about anyone else), we found that out the hard way, now we always check before show season starts.

 

[cowzrus]

this wasn't a purebred calf and the tattoo was readable in both ears from a distance with the calf laying down in the stall and he was weighing 1400 pounds.  Very legible tattoo for such and old calf.  I have two and three year old cows I can't read tats on unless I have them in a chute

Red I pmed you the tattoo in question.  Due to the questions about the ethics of the calf I just assume not drag names in it and if the tat makes a name jump out I just assume not go there, I was just curious as to if this was a normal practice of market cattle.  Where we are market steers arent registered for breeds, breed classes go by breed characteristics, but the calf could have come form any state since he came from a trader/jock. 

thanks for everyone's comments and help in shedding some light on it