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Simplifying Livestock Tracking with Easy Online Ordering
The introduction of ear tags for cattle began in Australia in the mid-20th century as a way to improve upon earlier identification methods such as branding. Ear tags provided a more humane and flexible way to mark and track individual animals. Now Yolla Co-op have come up with an easier way to order tags.
Starting with hazelnuts at Hagley Station, south west of Launceston, tourists can follow the “tasting trail” and sample berries, honey, chocolates, olives, truffles, and oysters, and wash it down with craft beer, cider, wine, and coffee. The many dairy farms in the area offer cheese—both cow and goat—and ice cream.
These are the North West Tasmanian producers whom Yolla Co-op has been servicing for the last 46 years. According to Ben Davies, Yolla’s General Manager, the Co-op was started by farmers who wanted to be able to “buy better”. “That business has continued to grow to the point now where we have three stores across the north-west coast employing over fifty staff and almost 2000 members,” Ben says.
One of the essential products supplied by Yolla are ear tags for livestock, and recently they have come up with an innovative way to get the correct ear tags to farmers. Previously, farmers would give Yolla the names and numbers they wanted printed on the tags, but often mistakes were made, which is an expensive problem if a farmer receives several thousand incorrect tags.
Under the National Livestock Identification System, all cattle, and from 2025 all sheep, in Australia are required to have a unique electronic ear tag—often referred to as an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag—that is linked to a central database. These tags contain a microchip that stores the animal's identification number, which can be scanned to access information about its origin, movements, and health status. This system allows for rapid tracing of animals in the event of a disease outbreak, which is crucial for protecting both the livestock industry and public health.
“So we asked ourselves ‘how do we really give the farmer a better user experience with ear tags?’” says Ben. The answer was to design an online tool so farmers can visualise their ear tags before they purchase them. “You can have different texts, logos, numbers, you name it.”
The online tool was originally created for farmers in North-West Tasmania, but since it was launched in May, Yolla have made deals with the tag manufacturers in Australia and New Zealand and now the tags can be sent anywhere in Australia. A separate website was developed exclusively for the ear tags and Yolla had one hundred orders in the first month.
“The farmers can see exactly what their tags look like before they buy and then just hit the button,” Ben says. “It’s so easy they can do it in their pyjamas.”
Website: https://yollaeartags.com.au/
Email address: eartags@yollaproducers.com.au
NEWS
Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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