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Beef Breeder MANUAL
6.1. Calf Processing
Calf processing involves a range of activities that together make managing the calves in a healthy and
productive state an easier and more eicient task over their life. These include;
• Applying identiication • Castration of males
• Dehorning • Vaccination against disease.
These activities may be done progressively throughout the calving period. The advantage of processing calves
progressively includes minimising stress on the calf and the handler, but it requires considerable labour to
regularly yard the cows, or capture and process the calf in the paddock. Alternatively, the whole calf crop can be
processed at one time after calving has inished.
6. Calf and Weaner Management
6.1.1. Animal Identification
Every calf should be given a unique number or name so that each individual can be easily identiied. Cattle
identiication is commonly practiced throughout the world for two main purposes:
• To enable proof of ownership for those responsible for cattle welfare and management
• To assist with herd management through ease of identiication of speciic individuals.
Ear tags are the most common method of identifying cattle. Tags may use numbers and text, colours, shape,
size and position in the ear to help identify individual animals Fig. 6.1. Over the last decade, electronic
Radio Frequency Identiication RFID tags have been developed for use in cattle, and in Australia, electronic
identiication of cattle is a mandatory requirement that enables the ownership of cattle to be tracked throughout
their lifetime.
Figure 6.1. Cattle identiied with an electronic RFID tag round button tag to the right and a numbered management tag aids lifetime identiication and traceability, and daily visual
identiication. Source; Banner Angus, Alberta, Canada.
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Cold Winter Climates
Ear tags are not always a permanent method to identify cattle, as they may be lost or become unreadable during
an animal’s lifetime. From an animal welfare perspective, the preferred methods of identifying cattle are ear
tagging, ear notching, ear tattooing, or freeze branding see TECHNICAL NOTE 6 - Cattle Identification.
All calves should receive two forms of identiication, so their identity is maintained if one identiier becomes
lost or unreadable. These identiiers can be two of the same type for example, identically numbered or named
management tags, one in each ear; or diferent types for example, a management tag and a RFID tag, or an
ear tag and a brand or tattoo; Fig. 6.1, provided that a record of the link between them is kept.
Before embarking on any permanent identiication program, a well-planned herd identiication system must
already be established. Permanent identiication should only be used where it is beneicial to the producer by
making record keeping considerably easier and more accurate, or is a requirement of a breed society. Applying
permanent identiication to cattle, when not required, can result in unnecessary pain and stress.
Numbering systems are the most common method used for individual identity of cattle. Designing a suitable
numbering system for a particular herd must be carefully thought through. Ideally, no individual number should be
duplicated within ten years to prevent misidentiication of animals and should not be more than four digits so
it is easily read.
A common system involves including the last digit of the year of birth for example, four in the year of 2014 as the
irst digit of an identiication number. The remaining three digits of the number identify the individuals within that
group of cattle born in 2014. For herds less than 1,000 cows this system accommodates a simple consecutive
numbering system. For example, calves born in 2014 would be numbered 4001, 4002, 4003 and so on,
while calves born in 2015 would be numbered 5001, 5002, 5003, etc. Many other numbering or naming
systems exist, and managers must establish one that is meaningful and useful to them.
More detailed information on identifying cattle is provided in TECHNICAL NOTE 6 - Cattle Identification.
6.1.2. Castration
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