[Black Sheep]

Does anyone else wish they had one of those fancy wand things that will read a sheep's EID tag?

We use Shearwell tags which have large print numbers on them, making them a bit easier to read but all our ewes have older tags with tiny faint numbers. Which makes doing anything that isn't exactly the same for every ewe a real pain - so weighing, dosing, etc - because you have to hold their head still for long enough to peer at the tag which is inevitably covered in mud / hiding behind a horn etc.

Our budget isn't going to run to the cost of a proper stick reader, but browsing online I found a load of animal tag readers that suggested they worked on the right frequency for sheep tags. So I took a £40 punt on one to see. The bad news is that it doesn't read our Shearwell tags. But the good news is that it does read the older ones - the ones I most needed help with. I've used it today when weighing the ewes and it made it so much easier.

Has anyone else experimented with anything like this?

Have you found one that works with a range of tags (especially Shearwell ones)?

Does anyone know why it is reading one type of tag but not others? I thought all sheep EID tags had to meet the same specification.

Any other inventive suggestions?

Link to the one I've tried: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07HNV8WXB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks

[SallyintNorth]

Switch to Shetlands so you can tell them apart? 

[twizzel]

You could just put in a flag management tag which has much bigger numbers and is easier to read.