Veterinary Services 

Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health February 2009 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Cattle Identification Practices on 

U.S. Beef Cow-calf Operations 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal 

Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) conducted the Beef 

2007-08 study, which focused on beef cow-calf health 

and management practices in 24 States1

. These major 

beef cow-calf producing States represented 79.6 percent 

of U.S. operations with beef cows and 87.8 percent of 

U.S. beef cows. 

One of the goals of the Beef 2007-08 study was to 

collect information on cattle identification (ID) practices 

and to evaluate the use of standardized premises and 

animal ID methods consistent with the National Animal 

Identification System (NAIS) voluntary program. NAIS is 

a State-Federal-industry partnership2

 designed to help 

producers and animal health officials respond quickly 

and effectively to animal disease events in the United 

States. 

 During the Beef 2007-08 study, beef producers were 

asked about the methods they used to identify individual 

cows and calves (in which each animal has its own 

unique ID) as well as the methods used to identify cows 

that belong to their herds (in which all cows have the 

same ID). Producers were provided a list of possible 

types of identification for uniquely identifying their herds 

or individual cattle or calves, and given the option to 

report other types of ID not listed3

. More than one ID 

method could have been used on the same cow or calf. 

For example, if an electronic ear tag was used, both the 

ear tag and electronic ID were reported. 

Individual ID 

Two-thirds of operations (66.1 percent) used some 

form of individual animal ID on at least some cows. 

Overall, 79.1 percent of all beef cows in the 24 states 

surveyed were individually identified by one or more 

methods. Plastic ear tags were the most common form 

of individual ID for cows (50.4 percent of operations and 

57.5 percent of cows), followed by brucellosis tags (24.2 

percent of operations and 38.1 percent of cows) 

[table 1]. Use of any individual animal ID on cows was

___________________________________________ 

1

States: 

Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, 

Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, 

Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South 

Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. 2

For more information on NAIS, visit 

http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml 

3

Hot-iron brand, freeze brand, ear notch, electronic tag, other tags, or 

tattoos.

strongly related to herd size, with 89.1 percent of 

operations with 200 or more cows having some form of 

individual ID compared with 59.3 percent of operations 

with 1 to 49 cows. 

 Nearly half of operations (46.7 percent) used at least 

one form of individual animal ID on calves, which 

accounted for 64.8 percent of calves being individually 

identified. Plastic ear tags were by far the most common 

individual animal ID method used for calves (37.7 

percent of operations and 50.2 percent of calves). A 

similar pattern was seen in the use of individual animal 

ID for calves by herd size as was seen for cows. A 

higher percentage of large operations had some form of 

individual animal ID for calves than smaller operations. 

Table 1. Percentage of Operations and Percentage of 

Cows, by Type of Individual Animal ID Used

Individual ID Type 

Percent 

Operations 

Percent 

Cows* 

Hot-iron brand 12.2 20.5 

Freeze brand 2.4 3.9 

Ear notch 4.8 9.8 

Electronic ID or 

microchip responder 0.8 1.2 

Brucellosis vaccination 

ear tag (Bang’s tag) 24.2 38.1 

Other metal ear tag 1.6 2.1 

Plastic ear tag 50.4 57.5 

Ear tattoo (other than for 

brucellosis vaccination) 8.1 7.7 

Other method 0.7 0.9 

Any identification 66.1 79.1 

*Percentage of all beef cows in the 24 States studied. 

Herd ID

Only 40.4 percent of operations used some form of 

herd ID. Overall, 61.3 percent of all cattle and calves had 

some form of herd ID. Hot-iron brand was the most 

common form of herd ID (44.8 percent of cattle and 

calves), followed by plastic ear tags (27.6 percent of 

cattle and calves) [table 2.] Use of a form of herd ID was 

more common among large operations—77.8 percent of 

operations with 200 or more cows, compared with 31.4 

percent of operations with 1 to 49 cows. 

United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 
Use of any form of herd ID was more common in the 

West region (74.3 percent of operations) compared the 

Central and South Central regions (42.5 and 49.5 

percent of operations, respectively). In the West region, 

84.8 percent of cattle and calves had some form of herd 

ID, whereas in the Central and South Central regions, 

61.5 and 65.7 percent of cattle and calves, respectively, 

had some form of herd ID. Use of a hot-iron brand was 

much more common among operations in the West 

region (71.4 percent) compared with the South Central 

region, which had the next highest percentage of 

operations (34.0 percent) that used a hot-iron brand. 

Table 2. Percentage of Operations and Percentage of 

Cattle and Calves, by Type of Herd ID Used

Herd ID Type 

Percent 

Operations 

Percent 

Cattle and 

Calves* 

Hot-iron brand 23.8 44.8 

Freeze brand 1.1 1.0 

Ear notch 7.8 16.2 

Electronic ID or microchip 

responder 0.2 0.6 

Metal ear tag other than 

Bang’s 1.0 1.1 

Plastic ear tag 20.4 27.6 

Ear tattoo (other than for 

brucellosis vaccination) 2.6 3.2 

Other method 0.2 0.4 

Any identification 40.4 61.3 

*Percentage of all cattle and calves on beef operations in the 24 States 

studied. 

Participation in NAIS 

Overall, 16.0 percent of operations had a unique 

NAIS premises ID assigned by their State Department of 

Agriculture. Having a premises ID was more common 

among large operations—29.7 percent of operations with 

200 or more cows, compared with only 11.7 percent of 

operations with 1 to 49 cows (table 3). 

Table 3. Percentage of Operations with a Premises 

ID, by Herd Size

Percent Operations 

Herd Size (Number of Beef Cows)

1-49 50-99 100-199 

200 or 

More 

All 

Operations

11.7 25.1 27.5 29.7 16.0 

Similar percentages of operations in each of the 

regions had a unique NAIS premises ID (table 4). 

Table 4. Percentage of Operations with a Premises 

ID, by Region

Percent Operations 

Region 

West Central 

South 

Central East 

14.7 20.2 11.6 17.1 

Once an operation has been assigned a unique 

premises ID by its State Department of Agriculture, it can 

obtain officially recognized individual animal ID, as 

outlined by the U.S. Animal Identification Number (AIN) 

guidelines. Of those operations with a premises ID, 

about 1 of 10 (9.6 percent) had implemented an 

individual animal ID system utilizing the AIN guidelines 

from the NAIS (table 5). 

Table 5. Percentage of Operations with a Premises 

ID that had Implemented an Individual ID System 

Using AIN Guidelines, by Herd Size 

Percent Operations 

Herd Size (Number of Beef Cows)

1-49 50-99 100-199 

200 or 

More 

All 

Operations

6.8 5.5 18.8 22.6 9.6 

________________________________ 

For more information, contact: 

USDA:APHIS:VS:CEAH 

NRRC Building B, M.S. 2E7 

2150 Centre Avenue 

Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117 

970.494.7000 

E-mail: NAHMS@aphis.usda.gov 

http://nahms.aphis.usda.gov 

#N537.0209 

____________________________________ 

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United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture