Livestock Tag Planner
This year's tag colour and letter, a numbering plan, and how many tags to order. Cattle, sheep and goats.
📄 Download your free tag plan
Pop your name and email in and we'll build a free PDF of your plan, colour, letter, numbering run and order quantity. Handy to keep in the shed or send to whoever does the ordering.
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Check your Downloads folder. Need a hand picking tags? Send us a note at farmandacreco@gmail.com or visit farmandacreco.com.au.
Ear tag year colours and letters explained
In Australia, visual and management ear tags use a rotating cycle of year-of-birth colours and letter codes so you can read an animal's age at a glance in the yards. The Livestock Tag Planner above shows the right colour and letter for the year and animal you pick, plans your tag numbers, and works out how many tags to order.
What colour tag for 2026?
For 2026, visual and management tags (and sheep and goat NLIS breeder tags) use Orange, with the year letter X. So a mob of 2026-drop lambs tagged for management might run X001, X002, X003 and so on in orange.
| Year | Colour | Letter |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | White | W |
| 2026 | Orange | X |
| 2027 | Light Green | Y |
| 2028 | Purple | Z |
| 2029 | Yellow | A |
| 2030 | Red | B |
Important: cattle NLIS tags do not change colour by year
This trips a lot of people up. The year-colour rotation applies to visual and management tags, and to sheep and goat NLIS breeder tags. It does not apply to cattle NLIS (RFID) tags. Cattle NLIS tags are a fixed colour, confirmed by Integrity Systems:
- Breeder / standard cattle NLIS tag = White (permanent, used for cattle bred on your property).
- Post-breeder / bought-in cattle NLIS tag = Orange (permanent, used for cattle that arrive already past the breeder stage).
Cattle NLIS tags carry a unique lifetime NLIS number and don't rotate by year, so there's no year letter on them either. If you're ordering cattle NLIS tags, pick the White breeder or Orange post-breeder option in the planner, the year colour never comes into it.
Sheep and goat tags
Sheep and goat NLIS breeder tags follow the year rotation, so 2026 breeder tags are Orange with the letter X. Sheep and goat post-breeder (bought-in) NLIS tags are a mandatory Pink and don't use the year colour. Visual and management tags for both follow the year colour like everything else.
How many ear tags should I order?
A quick rule of thumb: multiply your herd or flock size by your yearly replacement rate, then add a small buffer for lost, damaged or mis-read tags. The Order Quantity tab does the maths for you:
- Cattle, replacement rate around 20% is a common starting point.
- Sheep and goats, around 25% is typical.
- Buffer, most producers add 5 to 10% spare.
They're estimates only, adjust the percentages to match your own joining, marking and turn-off.
Frequently asked questions
What colour are 2026 cattle NLIS tags?
Cattle NLIS tags don't change colour by year. Breeder (bred on-farm) cattle use a permanent White NLIS tag, and post-breeder (bought-in) cattle use a permanent Orange NLIS tag. The 2026 Orange year colour applies to visual and management tags and to sheep and goat NLIS breeder tags, not to cattle NLIS.
What is the year letter for?
The year letter is a management convention printed alongside your numbering so you can tell the drop year apart at a glance, 2026 is X, 2027 is Y, and so on. It appears on visual, management and feedlot tags, and on sheep and goat NLIS breeder tags. Cattle NLIS tags don't carry a year letter.
Do the year colours ever repeat?
Yes, the colour cycle repeats every eight years, so 2030 comes back to Red. The letters keep advancing, so they don't repeat as quickly. This planner covers 2025 through 2030.
Does this tool store my herd numbers?
No. The planner runs entirely in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere while you use it. If you download the PDF and tick the marketing box, your name, email and state are the only details we receive.
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