Frequently asked questions

Year/Letter 2025 - N 2026 - P 2027 - R 2028 - S Ear tags are a great way to easily identify an animal out in the field, but they tend to fade after several years or get lost, so should be considered only part of your animal identification system. For permanent identification ear tattooing, hot-iron and freeze branding are acceptable, as well as USDA 840 tags (last six digits) and veterinarian applied brucellosis tags. The tattoo of an animal should include a series of letters and numbers. The first letter of the tattoo corresponds to the first letter of the breeder/owner’s herd prefix of the farm or ranch on which the animal was born. The middle digit should be unique to the breeder/owner’s farm or ranch where the animal was born (order of birth is preferred) and the last digit should be the year designation of PDCA. For example: High Horse is the prefix of breeder or the owner at the time of calving, first letter is “H”. The calf is the third born in the year 2025, the second digit is “3”. The PDCA Year code for 2025 is N so the last digit is “N”. This results in a tattoo of H3N in either the right or left ear.