Ear tags a help, not a hindrance

Electronic ear tags for cattle are so useful, says one Wairarapa farmer, that he is even using them for his sheep.
A NAIT - National Animal Identification and Tracing system - will become compulsory from November 1 for all cattle in New Zealand.
This means all cattle will have to be fitted with an approved electronic ear tag, recording information about the animal from farmgate to meatworks.
While some farmers are approaching the inevitable with some reluctance, Matt Wyeth and wife Linley of Spring Valley in Upper Plain have embraced it.
So much so, that in addition to the beef cattle raised on the property, the Wyeths have ear tagged "90 per cent of our 6000 ewes" and expect to tag 8500 lambs.
The sheep tags are different of course - smaller than the regulation RFID - radio frequency identification - tags for the cattle, but the principle of a mobile information source is the same.
Information, Mr Wyeth reckons, equals profit.
"There are a lot of guys that are saying it's a glass half full," he said.
"[Some] people are missing the message that these are one of the biggest tools we've got."
With his Gallagher Touch Screen EID - electronic identification - Mr Wyeth can periodically weigh each animal and compare growth rates.
The computer can print a growth report "when I leave the yards" instead of the farmer having to send away for one.
Mr Wyeth said he has been growing his lambs on four different types of seed.
"If some lambs are growing at 39 per cent and some lambs at 46 per cent, that's a 3kg carcass weight difference; that's worth about $20," Mr Wyeth said.
"We're doing it with our sheep because there are productivity gains.
"It's like the dashboard on your car; it tells you how fast you're going, what the engine temperature is, how much fuel you've got.
"Without that information, sooner or later you're going to conk out.
Mr Wyeth said the compulsory cattle tags for his herd of 250 cost about $2.50 each, but the information could be worth $5 a head.
At a Beef and Lamb New Zealand focus day on the family property last week, Mr Wyeth outlined to farmers his use of electronic monitoring.
Also present were Ian Moorcock of Gallagher and Shane McManaway of Allflex to demonstrate the electronic equipment.
Allflex, Zeetags and Leader Products are the three NAIT-accredited ear tag manufacturers.
Rod McKenzie, Mauriceville farmer and former rural ward district councillor, said he is "not really against" the compulsory cattle tag system, because it can hold farmers individually responsible for mistakes.
"Some people are careless with types of drench and withholding periods [to prevent meat contamination]; that's putting stress on the whole industry," Mr McKenzie said.