No scanner here either but I have watched the scanners work at the local auction mart.
Visually, the paired tags (one electronic one not) will have the flock number on one side and a sequential number on the other; where tags have an 'inside' and 'outside' (the ear) then the flock number seems to be inside and the individual number outside. (So far as the tags I have looked at, anyways.)
Slaughter tags (single electronic tag, suitable for lambs under 12 months old and destined to be slaughtered under 12 months old) show the flock number on one side only and are blank on the other. Where tags have an 'inside' and 'outside' (the ear) then the flock number is outside.
Electronically both types come up with "flock number individual number", the individual number is stored electronically only on the slaughter tag but is visible on the two paired tags as well as electronically on the yellow member of the pair.
We have not used slaughter tags and I do not know if the sequence of numbers is the same or different for the two types. I suspect it is one sequence, so that for instance, if you buy 50 pairs and 50 slaughter tags, you'll get 00001 to 00050 on the pairs and (invisibly) 00051 to 00100 on the slaughter tags. If not then I cannot for the life of me tell you how the readers know whether it's a paired tag or a slaughter tag.
I will stop now as I am losing the will to live.