Marking tag

A unitary livestock identification ear tag which can be readily folded from a normal configuration to a compact configuration for insertion into an animal's ear, following which it resiliently returns to said normal configuration for effective retention into place, said tag comprising an elongated flat body portion adapted to receive identification indicia, a neck section resiliently hinged along one of its edges to an edge of said body portion with said one edge defining a first transverse junction, said neck section extending substantially perpendicular to said body portion in said normal configuration, said neck section being thin and substantially flat in cross-section and being of a length sufficient, but not greatly exceeding, the length necessary to accommodate the thickness of an animal's ear, an elongated anchoring head substantially concave-convex from end to end and substantially equal in width to said neck section resiliently hinged intermediate the opposed ends of said anchoring head to the other edge of said neck section along a secod transverse junction substantially parallel to said first junction, said anchoring head extending only in two directions from said second junction substantially normal to said neck section and substantially parallel to said body portion in said normal configuration, the convex side of said head having a smaller radius of curvature than the opposite surface, whereby the thickness of said anchoring head is greater at said second junction than at the ends of said head, said anchoring head having opposed ends which are rounded sufficiently to engage an animal's ear to prevent unnecessary abuse of the ear during the use of the tag, said neck section being bendable along said first and second transverse junctions to position said neck into substantially coplanar relation to said body portion, and to position one end of said anchoring head substantially parallel to and substantially contacting said neck section and the other end of said anchoring head outwardly beyond said neck section with said other end of said anchoring head substantially in the plane of said neck section, whereby said neck section and said anchoring head are folded into a compact configuration for insertion through a slit in an animal's ear.