Treatments Related to Cattle Identification and Securing the Herd

Livestock is marked using assorted marks, in a number of different ways and for various reasons, including:

Animal identification is influenced by a number of factors:

• A farmer's goals have a significant effect on identification. Thus, where a farmer intends to concentrate on commercial beef farming, identification procedures will be very different compared to the situation where a farmer decides to run a stud operation.
• The size of the farming operation, as well as the amount of management input available, will play a role. On very large farms where there is only one manager and more than one enterprise, much less time can be spent marking animals compared to a small herd where beef is the only enterprise.
• The extent of record-keeping, and the use the records are put to, will have an effect.
• The length of time a mark is needed for (how permanent the mark must be), as well as ease of application, must be considered.
• Stress to animals and damage that can cause financial losses are important. If identification involves continued pain to animals, the stress will adversely affect production. Damage to hides by brands is known to cause considerable financial losses.
• The availability of the necessary tools for marking must be considered. If metal ear tags are to be used, and these are only available from an overseas country, obvious problems will arise.
• A farmer must decide at what stage of an animal’s life the mark must be applied. Thus, branding at a young age requires a smaller brand than when the brand is applied when the animal is fully grown.

When a farmer decides to identify his animals, all these factors must always be considered. The most important factor is what use the mark will be put to. Providing animals with complicated marks that cost a lot of money in terms of management and labour time, as well as production loss in animals, unless it has a financial benefit, is wasteful. The guiding principle must be: if the identification mark is used practically, mark the animal. If the mark is not used (for example to calculate animal efficiency or to prevent theft), do not waste time and money.