Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Wordless Wednesday... (a.k.a. the post with fewer words)

It's calving time at the beef unit! Katie (labmate) and I saw these cuties while we were working on a project the other morning. In the top photo you can see the ear tags that are used for identification purposes. The top number on the ear tag is the sire (the father), the middle is the calf's unique ID, and the bottom number is the dam (the mother). Each calf's ear tag is unique and there are no two that are alike.

 

You might be wondering why the heck we put those tags on calves...here is the answer: The ear tag is important for record keeping to keep track of the health of each calf, their birthweight, sex, and any other vital information! They also help cattleman keep track of each calf by displaying the dam ID on the tag. This would be useful if the cow and her calf got separated for some reason, they could easily be matched back up. 


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