New tagging option for cattle farmers

There is a new player in the cattle tag market, with Cormac Tagging this week receiving full approval to supply cattle tags. The Tuam-based family owned business, founded by TJ Gormley and family, has been putting preparations in place over the last year allowing it to hit the ground running since printing its first cattle tags on Monday evening.

The tags on offer from Cormac Tagging have many differences to the type of tag currently on the market. Firstly, the tag is the Caisley FLEXOplusGENO tag, which combines animal identification and tissue sampling in one procedure.

Explaining the workings of the tag, Ursula Gormley says the tissue tag is a one-step application whereby the sample is automatically closed and encapsulated in the vial, with no extra handling of the sample container necessary.

This, Ursula says, prevents any risk of mixing samples or enclosing tissue in the incorrect container while the parallel closing mechanism of the tagger reduces the risk of tags being pulled out if animals move their head post-tagging.

“We have been working with Caisley since entering into sheep tagging in 2001. They are also a family-owned business, based in Germany that are dedicated to high standards and boast a loss rate of less than 1% per annum, supplying tags across 17 countries in the EU.

“We are so confident in the quality of tags that we are offering free replacement tags during our one-year contract. We think that it will have particular benefits in reducing labour. Tags are printed in one strip for one animal and once tagged, the tissue sample vial is sitting in the tagger and simply has to be transferred to the envelope for posting. The metal tip on the tissue tag also means that a clean hole is cut through the ear and the sample is safely collected.”

Cost of tags

The cost of tags is €2.68, including the 38c-per-tag ICBF contribution, while EID tags cost €3.95 (€3.57 excluding ICBF contribution) and replacement tags cost €2.19 for a single tag and €2.90 for a double-tag replacement set.

The Caisley tag requires the use of a different tagger (one tagger for tissue, electronic and replacement tags) which costs €21.90 or is free with orders of 50 tags or more.

“The replacement tags can be applied with taggers farmers already have by simply changing the pin. This is an option for farmers who may have already ordered 2017 tags but may wish to try out our tag over the next year,” says Ursula.

Value-added products

Cormac tagging has a successful history in innovation and design, stretching back over 30 years, with TJ Gormley running Cormac Sheep Equipment up until 2015 and crossing over into Cormac Tagging established in 2005.

“We have sold over 1m tags each year over the last ten years and handle 35% of EID sheep tags. Our sheep customers are happy we can now also supply their cattle tags and we had 100,000 tag-set orders in the pipeline on starting last Monday.

“We are now looking at ways to enhance our product and a few simple things so far are colour-coded discs for easy identification of animals which have been a huge success on the sheep side. We have also started work on a new reader that can be attached to your phone or iPad, It is available in FDX technology at present and the HDX mobile attachment is currently in development and should be available on the market soon.”

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