WARNING: This will make your Skin Crawl !

What a creepy encounter you’ve had, my skin is crawling in sympathy with yours. I hope they never make it downunder, we have enough things that can make your life uncomfortable.

I remember learning the hard way what chiggers were, when I was a kid visiting my grandmother in Kentucky! However, New Jersey has the same jungle-like climate enough that we have way too many dangerous critters (the ticks and mosquitoes carry many deadly diseases!).

I have a friend in western Virginia who was bitten by the Lone Star Tick, too--one of the worst side effects was that she couldn't eat bacon. She, too, finally got past it by going for acupuncture. Lucky for her!

HERE you go; and, HERE is the whole assortment they have; some sure get pricey these days.

Cattle Fly Tags are exactly the same shape as plain old numbered identification ear tags, except that they are impregnated with slow-release insecticides.

You load the two parts of the tag in a tag gun/pliers; the tag and the sharp piercing "button"

You put the tag on the front/inside of the ear and the button on the back/outside of the ear; squeeze the handles; and, the needle-sharp button pierces the ear and snaps into the tag itself.

It is the exact same process as piercing ears, belly-buttons, lips, and the like.

Of course, in Henry's case, I don't actually pierce them into his ears; I, instead, zip-tie them onto his halter and often also braid a long string in his tail and hang one from the bottom.

When he swishes his tail, it wraps the fly tag around his legs and under his belly, spreading insecticide to those places.

Permanent black cattle tag markers are available so that you can write big numbers, letters, or whatever on the tags for identification purposes.

My father never knew any of his many cattle by names; it was old number 97 or old number 55 or whatever; often, I would have to make a noise or otherwise do something to make the cow turn her head toward me so that I could read her number; a good pair of field glasses came in handy as well.


I may have said this before; but, anytime I get to thinking the fly tags aren't doing their job, I can remove Henry's halter for a day and that night, instead of a hundred flies aggravating him, there will be ten million.


Watch this short VIDEO; this guy is placing the tags backwards to how I have ever seen it done and would make them much harder to read. 

This VIDEO is just a wee bit longer and goes into quite a bit more detail.

Of course, they have politically corrected everything and don't show the real world of working cattle.