This article was created by the CattleTags.com team and is provided to help our fellow farmers and ranchers. We would appreciate the opportunity to help with your cattle identification needs!

What are the benefits of custom cattle tags?

There have been great advancements in the cattle industry, such as management practices, technology and software - even with animal identification! Customizing visual tags is a cost effective way to enhance your production, plus it can showcase your cattle. 

Why customize your visual tags? "Customizing" means choosing what is printed on the tags. You are no longer limited to buying blank tags and manually writing the tag number on it, or buying a pre-set range of tag numbers that are already printed. Here are a few options you will want to consider:

  • Printing on front: Each animal's number (management code) being pre-printed on the tag means that you'll save time and effort at working time - no more looking around for a marking pen or remembering what number you need to assign next! Including your ranch name, logo and/or a line of text (such as your phone number) further promotes your cattle and helps them be more easily identified as being yours.
  • Printing on back: You can have the animal's number printed on the back of the tag as well. This helps you identify the animal from a front or back view. Your ranch name, logo, and/or text can be printed on the back as well. You may just want to have the animal's number on the front then have your contact information on the back of every tag.
  • Different color tags: Consider purchasing various colors of tags. You could use a certain color of tag to indicate an animal is being given special treatments for a backgrounding program, another color to indicate male or female, or use different tag colors to indicate certain sire groups or management preferences.

See how much you will know about an animal just by looking at their tag? 

As you consider ear tag and EID options, maybe you have heard of "matched pair tags" or seen pictures of visual and electronic ID (EID) tags together. Matched pair tags are when the 15-digit EID number is already printed onto the visual tag. This is an ideal way to implement EID into your herd. Click here to learn more.