Tag sheep with ear tags, pastern bands and boluses

You must ensure lambs and sheep are correctly tagged with ear tags, pastern bands or boluses, so they can be identified.

This is a legal requirement so that animals can be traced to help prevent and contain the outbreak of disease.

Your sheep could be rejected if they’re not correctly tagged when they arrive at a market.

There’s other guidance for tagging:

• sheep to be exported
• imported sheep

What’s on a tag

A pair of adult tags display:

• ‘UK’
• ‘0’ if the tag is an EID (electronic identification) tag
• the 6 digit flock mark of the holding where the sheep is tagged
• a 5 digit official identification number which is unique to the sheep

Lamb slaughter tags display ‘UK’ and the flock mark.

Slaughter tags have an EID chip in them, containing an official identification number for the animal. This tag can be read by an EID reader.

Find out how to get a flock mark.

Add your own information to ear tags and pastern bands

You can add management information (for example, the sheep’s year of birth) to a tag. This information must be clearly separate so that it is not confused with the sheep’s official identification number.

You can also attach your own management tags to your sheep, but they cannot:

• be yellow, black or red
• have the letters ‘UK’ on them

When to tag lambs

You must tag lambs on the holding where they were born, with either one slaughter tag or 2 adult tags:

• within 6 months of birth, if you rear them indoors
• within 9 months of birth, if you rear them outdoors
• before you move them from the holding, if this is sooner

What to tag lambs with

If a lamb is intended for slaughter before it is 12 months old, you must tag it with either a slaughter tag or 2 adult tags.

A slaughter tag is a single yellow EID tag, which means it can be read with an electronic reader.

If you use 2 adult tags, one tag must be an EID tag. The other is a ‘visual’ tag which can only be read by sight, rather than electronically. Both tags will have the same official identification number.

You must replace a lamb’s slaughter tag with 2 adult tags if you’re going to keep it past 12 months old, whether you decide to slaughter it or not. You must do this before the lamb is 12 months old.

Find out how to replace a slaughter tag on lambs you decide to keep past 12 months old.

How to tag lambs not intended for slaughter and adult sheep

You must use an approved combination of 2 tags for:

• lambs under 12 months if you know they’re not intended for slaughter
• all sheep intended to be kept over 12 months old

EID (electronic identification) tag	Visual (non-EID) tag
Yellow EID ear tag	Ear tag (any colour except yellow, red or black)
Yellow EID ear tag	Tattoo, which can go across both ears. It must have a UK code and flock mark on one ear, and the sheep’s official identification number on the other ear
Yellow EID ear tag	Green pastern band (any colour except yellow, red or black but only green is being supplied)
EID bolus (ingested by the sheep)	Black ear tag with ‘B’ printed on it

Other combinations of tags are legally allowed but some tags are not yet manufactured and supplied by approved tag suppliers.

Requirements to retag sheep

When you buy adult sheep, you do not need to retag them as long as they have 2 adult tags. One of these must be an EID tag.

You must replace the tags if they’re lost, damaged or the identification number is unreadable. This includes if the transponder in an EID tag is unreadable.

Replacing lost or damaged ear tags or pastern bands

You must replace ear tags or pastern bands as soon as possible, within 28 days of noticing that they were lost or damaged (and before you move the sheep off your holding).

You can choose to replace tags with either:

• tags that have a new official identification number for the sheep (the tag must be red if the animal was not born on the holding)
• a replica of the original tag which keeps the sheep’s original official identification number

You must update your holding register within 36 hours of tagging a sheep. If you have replaced the identification number and you know the old one, you must cross-reference the old and new identification numbers in the holding register.

Before you replace tags, you should read the detailed rules for replacing lost or damaged tags in sheep.

Replacing slaughter tags on lambs under 12 months old

You must replace a lost or damaged slaughter tag with either: 

• another EID slaughter tag that visually displays the lamb’s flock mark  
• a pair of adult tags (one must be EID) that each show the official identification number

These tags must be red if the lamb was not born on your holding (unless you use a replica tag with the original identification number). 

Replacing slaughter tag on lambs you decide to keep past 12 months old 

You must replace the lamb’s slaughter tag with 2 adult tags that have an official identification number on them, if you keep it past 12 months old. One of the tags must be electronic (EID).

If the lamb was not born on your holding, you must:

• use red replacement tags
• cross reference the new and old tag identification numbers in your holding register

You can only keep a lamb past 12 months if it can be traced back to its holding of birth.

Read more rules on replacing slaughter tags on lambs you decide to keep past 12 months.

Recording tags in your holding register

You must update your holding register within 36 hours of tagging or retagging a sheep.

Find out how to keep a holding register.

Where to buy ear tags, pastern bands and boluses

Buy official tags from ear tag suppliers approved by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA).

When ordering tags, you’ll need the county parish holding (CPH) number and flock mark for where you keep the animal.

For sheep born on a holding with a temporary CPH or common land, give the flock number of your permanent holding.