This morning was spent dehorning calves and I always put the eartags in at the same time. Any calf steered at birth gets a metal eartag straight away, but the rest we do later. So at the end of the session with only one young bull calf left to do, hi ho wrong eartags left. Now plastic tags are easy to get out, you just take the secateurs to them, but metal ones are a night mare. Fortunetly we always leave growing space, so I'm afraid it was out with the bolt croppers, as the metal tags i use must be made of hard steel as they never lose their numbers. heifer calf is now complete with correct tags and the young bull will get his when the replacements come this should not have happen, but my only excuse is that I have been so busy lately that I made the mistake of not writing on the back of all the plastic tags lesson learnt. If she has a hang up when I come to halter train her, she will be excuse. All back happily in the field and bad experiences seem to have been forgotten. Amazing what a drop of mothers milk does.
I've really discovered the value of EID after an afternoon on my own of peering at hairy Dexter lugs. One thing I deduced was that the animals who hold their ears back always have a check-digit 5!
this should not have happen, but my only excuse is that I have been so busy lately that I made the mistake of not writing on the back of all the plastic tags 
