[Foobar]

There was a fault with the plastic on the Shearwell ones originally.  They started to absorb too much moisture from the atmosphere and so would bend when you tried to put them in.  You just needed to put them in a low oven to dry them out and then they regained their rigidity.
Always store them in a sealed bag .

[shep53]

Shearwell for me in the breeding sheep , keep all spare tags in air tight containers with silica bags and never had a problem with pins bending ,  have a small problem with tags breaking but shearwell gave me new orange jawed pliers  as they say the red and black closed to tightly and stressed the tags ( sent back broken ones to be examined ) and since replacements are free it just a minor irritation , not had a single tag ripped out in 4yrs .   Use roxan auto tags on sale lambs for the speed of tagging big lots , new thicker pins much better retention .       Used to use allflex bubble gum but  as time went by many tags lost their flag portion and only the pin left

[langfauld easycare]

There was a fault with the plastic on the Shearwell ones originally.  They started to absorb too much moisture from the atmosphere and so would bend when you tried to put them in.  You just needed to put them in a low oven to dry them out and then they regained their rigidity.
Always store them in a sealed bag .

mine were baged and in a tub . after i had used them one neighbor told me to oven them another told me to freeze them . i told them at the time it was ear tags i bought not a leg of lamb . it was more than one batch  . changed pliers /auto tagger a few times /replaced ear tags by the end i had enough . may give them a go again for this years ewe lambs .

[Womble]

Lots of votes for Shearwell so far then!

But before I order mine, which type are best?

These


Or These?



Thanks!!

[Blacksheep]

      Used to use allflex bubble gum but  as time went by many tags lost their flag portion and only the pin left

Oh thats disappointing to read shep as was hoping that they would be better than the babe tags for not losing their fins, which their sales rep of course assured me they would be! So far we have had no loses over the last year and as we have never had a ripped ear with the pins from these or the babe tags which have the same pins will stick with them for the time being. Might have to review in a year or two if we get too many loses of the flags/fins though.

[SallyintNorth]

Nearly everyone seems to use the long thin foldover type, Womble, but I don't know anything one way or the other about the 'management tag' style.

[Nethermoor Pigs]

Lots of ideas!  Seems to me that I am choosing between Allflex Bubblegum and Shearwell.  I will look at both and try and make the decision.

Does anyone use Cox Agri?  I used them for pigs and I know the sheep applicator is the same for EiD as normal and it seems a quality brand pigwise, but don't know on the sheep.

[mowhaugh]

We use the bottom Shearwell ones.  They can get text onto the round bit at the end, for instance we get our Kerry Hill Flock number, which is 4 digits, then our designation letters, DXN, and then two digits for the year, it all fits on fine.

[Bionic]

I use Allflex bubblegum. Last year was my first time though so not much to go on. Have just ordered the same for this year as we haven't had any problems

[Foobar]

Lots of votes for Shearwell so far then!

But before I order mine, which type are best?

The SET tags are the best (the loop ones).

[shep53]

When I say air tight container I don't mean a bag, a plastic sealed box and the little silica bags absorb any moisture in the box after opening .       Use the set tag personally and bare in mind I buy hundreds every year and if the pins were to bend then I wouldn't be using them !!              The bubble gum tags have been in 6and 7 yrs and most have lost their flag but they are probably improved now .        Used the cox agri loop tags 5 yrs ago   seem ok just very long and the more movement the larger the pin hole gets over time

[langfauld easycare]

When I say air tight container I don't mean a bag, a plastic sealed box and the little silica bags absorb any moisture in the box after opening .       Use the set tag personally and bare in mind I buy hundreds every year and if the pins were to bend then I wouldn't be using them !!              The bubble gum tags have been in 6and 7 yrs and most have lost their flag but they are probably improved now .        Used the cox agri loop tags 5 yrs ago   seem ok just very long and the more movement the larger the pin hole gets over time

.they did bend at the time though . as i said they were in a bag and an air tight tub .i had about 100 doubles and 250 slaughter tags . in the end up i had  old ritchey s -tags with the locking bump filed of to make a hole in the ear then put the shearwell tag in . was a nightmare. . shearwell did keep trying to resolve it but i really had enough by the end .especially after payin 50 quid for the auto tagger and extra for the tags in tubes to go in it which was ment to save myself some time  . i noticed last night they dont seem to sell the auto tagger anymore must have gave up on it . 

[shep53]

Sorry you had a bad batch , I never tried the auto tagger it looked difficult to use and had some very bad press including if I remember twice putting back the launch due to problems

[Tudful Tamworths]

I switched to Shearings for my pig tags because I was fed up of pigs running off with tagging pliers still attached to their ears.
Tried out some pliers at a show and their quick-release system really impressed me. Since then, I've bought the sheep ones, too. Very pleased.
And I've tried Dalton, Fearings, Zeetag before, but was never entirely happy with them.

[langfauld easycare]

Sorry you had a bad batch , I never tried the auto tagger it looked difficult to use and had some very bad press including if I remember twice putting back the launch due to problems

was bad at the time .i will give them another go for the ewe lambs this year . how do you get on with the roxan auto tagger ?