Cattle recordkeeping system for success

“As a new year begins, cattle producers may find value in looking back at the previous year to evaluate the operation’s productivity and profitability,” says Patrick Davis, University of Missouri Extension livestock field specialist. In this previous year’s evaluation, cattle producers should evaluate their recordkeeping system and determine if it was successful or if changes are needed. If your system needs some changes, Davis will provide some suggestions for improvement to help cattle producers be successful in recordkeeping.

“Proper cattle identification is important to a recordkeeping system,” says Davis. Two nationally known identification systems are the four-digit system and the letter and three-digit system.

“The first number of the four-digit system represents the last digit of the calf birth year,” says Davis. The rest of the numbers in the four-digit system represent the calf’s birth order that year. For example, the identification of the 56th calf born in 2025 is 5056. One problem with this system is the potential for identification duplication of the cows that are 10 years or older with younger cows in the herd.

“The letter and three-digit system reduces potential cow identification duplication in the herd because it uses a letter to represent the year,” says Davis. The letter represents the year the calf was born, and the three digits represent the calf birth order during that year. For example, N is the letter assigned to 2025, so N056 is the identification number for the 56th calf born in 2025. The letter changes yearly in sequential order, except I, O, Q and V, which are not used for identification.

“Identification markings need to be permanent and easy to read,” says Davis. Furthermore, Davis suggests permanent calf identification markings of ear tattooing or branding in combination with ear tagging. The new electronic identification tags are helpful in tracking and collection of data in a total electronic format. No matter what form of identification is used, Davis suggests identifying the animal as soon as possible after birth to aid in proper operation recordkeeping.