Breed societies such as the Charolais society and the Hereford society have different methods of identifying cattle.
It is important that you know how these systems work so that animals can be easily identified in Stockbook.
This will be applicable when completing data extractions, EBVs, breed society imports and exports etc. so as to not create any duplicates and to apply information to the correct animal.
Hereford Society
The Hereford society uses the suffix sex M, F, or S (male, female, or steer) as well as the last two digits of the birth year. For example, a heifer born in 1991 will have the suffix F91 at the end of BOTH the primary and society ID. Example: L0287F91
Select the animals that need changing.
Go to Utility > Bulk Changes > Basic Animal Details > Primary/Society Id./Tattoo > Select Primary & Society option > New character to be added to the end > enter F91 (Female & birth year) > OK.
Charolais Society
The Charolais Society uses the same ID for different aged animals. For example, a calf born in 1991 would have an ID like L0287 and could have the exact same primary and society ID as a calf born in 2005. This creates problems in Stockbook when doing a data extract from the society or completing tasks such as importing EBVs because the values can be applied to the wrong animal.
To fix this, a suffix needs to be added to BOTH the primary and society ID in Stockbook.
This can be done by adding the + sign and the last two digits of the birth year to both of these IDs: Example L0287+91
Select the animals that need changing. Go to Utility > Bulk Changes > Basic Animal Details > Primary/Society Id./Tattoo > Select Primary & Society option > New character to be added to the end > enter + 91 (plus sign +birth year) > Ok
Semen sires cannot have their ID changed as the society requires this for registration of the calf. This creates a problem when you have a younger calf with the same ID as the semen sire.
All other Societies
Most societies simply use the principle of adding the + sign and the last two digits of the birth year as a suffix to the animal's ID (same as above).
Article ID 4273