Leader Products was incorporated in 1948. It is a fully Australian-New Zealand owned and operated business and has been a leading supplier to the livestock industry for now over 50 years.

Leader Products specialises in the manufacture and distribution of Animal Identification Systems for the livestock industry, as well as the wholesale distribution of an extensive range of Veterinary Instruments and Husbandry Products.

Leader Products Pty Ltd (Australia), based in Melbourne, started in the livestock identification business in 1950 with the introduction of the first plastic ear tags for sheep which evolved into the patented "Leadertag" ID system for sheep. By 1956, Leader Products was established as the predominant supplier of tags to the Australian & New Zealand Sheep Industry. Today, Leader continues to supply Leadertags and a host of other products, including Two Piece Flexible Tags, for livestock identification developed from years of knowledge and testing.

Leader Products, apart from having branches throughout Australia and New Zealand, is represented overseas in countries such as South Africa, United Kingdom, Japan, Europe, Chile, Mexico, Canada and the United States. Leader Products supplies many government contracts.

Points of History and Market Share
During the 1960's tagging of cattle was not common place. When tags were sold they were mainly to Dairy farmers and only then in limited quantities. Tags of many types including Two Piece types were used with limited success. Beef farmers had even less interest because of the expense and perceived poor retention. Leader marketed many of these products but general sales were poor until a one piece polyurethane tag called Ritchey Tag started to show considerable success.  Between 1970 and '73 Leader introduced single piece tags by the names of Lone Star, Tag Ease and Arrowflex which started to exceed the sales of Ritchey Tags due to better application.

In 1973 a company by the name of Delta Plastics from Palmerston North, New Zealand, subsequently renamed Allflex, released a new improved two piece tag totally in flexible polyurethane, replacing previous tags it and Leader Products Australia sold under the names of Monotag and Duotag. The success of this tag was the easier more humane application, it's as equal retention for the time and the marketing of the product in many sizes, colours and combinations that the farmer could better utilise.

Leader Products released it's own patented Two Piece tag design in 1980. From this time Leader developed successfully the "fast release" TYPE 1 Short Stud Male Tag System. This system had the added new advantage of not allowing cross infection between animals. To enhance the product range Leader introduced in 1988 an improved TYPE 2 Male Tag for those farmers who wished to still use standard PIN applicators. Leader Products (NZ) released this improved range in 1989. To combat cross infection a BLIND TIP was introduced in 1999 which is still current today.  To avoid tearing ears during tag application a Two Piece Flexible Tag FAST Tagger with "quick release" was introduced.. 

Improvements to our products are illustrated by the NEW improved shape of our Two Piece Flexible tag range with strengthened necks, thickness of the tags and being available in both Tamperproof and Standard designs. Combined with improvements in plastics and laser marking technology, Leader continues to develop innovatively to provide for the requirements of the Livestock I.D. industry into the future.

Leader Products Auckland New Zealand





Leader Products Melbourne Australia





Leader Products Melbourne Factory







1986 - Leadermatic & Tags




1989 - Leader Flexible Tags & Applicator

2003 - Leader "Quck Release" Applicator