Lambing is the one time of year when every paperwork clock starts at once, usually at three in the morning. This is the checklist I would pin in the shed, with the rule behind each line and the usual ways it goes wrong.
At lambing in England, tag each lamb on its holding of birth within 6 months if reared indoors, 9 months if outdoors, or before it leaves. Enter tagging, replacement tags, movements and deaths in the flock register within 36 hours. Replace lost tags within 28 days. Treat afterbirth and stillborn lambs as fallen stock, keep medicine records for 5 years, and report arrivals within 3 days. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differ in detail. The full rules are in our sheep EID tags and flock register guide.
Seven jobs, each with its own clock. Most are explained in our sheep EID tags and flock register guide, our sheep movement reporting guide and our holding register guide. This page puts them in the order they land in the shed.
| Job | Clock (England) | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Tag lambs | Within 6 months indoors, 9 outdoors, or before leaving | Register, within 36 hours of tagging |
| Replace a lost or damaged tag | Within 28 days of noticing, or before leaving | Register, within 36 hours |
| Upgrade a slaughter tag you are keeping | Before the lamb is 12 months old | Register replacement section, within 36 hours |
| Death on the holding | Record within 36 hours of finding it | Register, not LIS |
| Move on or off the holding | Register within 36 hours, report arrival within 3 days | Register, then LIS |
| Treatment given | Keep for 5 years | Medicine book |
| Year-end count | Return by 31 December | Inventory, then register |
The 36-hour clock is the one that bites, because it runs from the act, not from the lambing finishing. A tagging day on Saturday means a register entry by Sunday night. That is why I would write the number down at the pen rather than carry it in your head to the kitchen table.
Tick these off a fortnight before. A missing tag at night costs more than any other item.
The GOV.UK sheep tagging guidance says you can only get tags from approved suppliers and asks for your flock mark. For sheep born on a holding with a temporary CPH or on common land, order using the flock mark of your permanent holding.
Tag on the holding where the lamb was born. The GOV.UK tagging rules allow either one slaughter tag, a single yellow EID tag, for a lamb going for slaughter before 12 months, or two adult tags, one EID and one visual, carrying the same number. If you are not sure whether a lamb will be sold or kept, use two adult tags from the start.
The change of plan is the usual trap. If you keep a slaughter-tagged lamb past 12 months you must replace its slaughter tag with two adult tags before it reaches 12 months, whether or not it is later slaughtered. A lamb not born on your holding can only be upgraded if you can trace it to its holding of birth by scanning the slaughter tag.
Watch ewes and lambs sold together. A lamb that leaves its birth holding untagged is already late. I would also be wary of buying ewes with untagged lambs at foot, since the rule is to tag on the holding of birth.
For each lamb tagged, the GOV.UK holding register guidance wants the date tagged, the official ID number (or the flock mark for a slaughter tag), the year of birth, and the breed and genotype if you know them. Do it within 36 hours of tagging.
Replacement tags go in within 36 hours as well, with the date, the new number and, if known, the old one. You need not record both numbers for sheep first tagged before 2010, or where the replacement is a true replica.
Deaths need the date and the official ID number, within 36 hours of finding the animal. You do not report deaths to LIS. GOV.UK does not say what to do with a lamb that dies before it is tagged. Check with LIS or RPA if you are unsure, and in the meantime keep a plain tally of dead lambs by date, because your year-end count will need it.
Keep the register for 3 years after the last animal dies or leaves. A paper book is fine at lambing. Typing it up later is how entries end up a week old.
They are fallen stock. The GOV.UK fallen stock guidance says the same applies to stillborn animals and afterbirth: no burial or burning on the farm, and collection without undue delay by an approved transporter to an approved site. You pay the collection and disposal costs, through the National Fallen Stock Company or your own arrangements.
Until collection, keep animals and birds away from the carcass. Clean, disinfected, lidded and leakproof bins can serve as temporary storage, but a shed corner is no substitute.
Our fallen stock disposal rules cover the approved routes, and the National Fallen Stock Scheme cost guide covers what it costs. Ask your collector now how they cope with a busy week. A lamb that was tagged also needs a death entry in the register, within 36 hours.
Ewes and lambs moving to grass are the common ones. Moves to land with the same CPH number, or land within 10 miles registered to your CPH where the sheep will not mix with anyone else's, need no report. Move to a rented field with its own CPH number and the movement is reportable, even next door.
Where you must report, the GOV.UK movement reporting guidance says report on movements within 3 days of the animals arriving. The sender cannot report your arrival for you. Record the movement in the register within 36 hours as well.
Selling lambs through a market that scans EID, the market is a central point recording centre. You give the total and tick the CPRC box on the LIS-1, then add the official ID numbers it supplies within 48 hours of sending. Check the count against what left.
Buying in ewes during lambing triggers standstill: nothing leaves for 6 days in England, day 1 being the day after arrival. Our calving season paperwork article shows the same pile-up in cattle. Put the dates on the UK livestock deadlines calendar.
For goats, the tagging clock is the same, but EID is optional and a kid slaughter tag can be visual. See our goat keepers guide.
Scotland: the Scottish register guidance sets 48 hours for movements, first identification and replacements, where England sets 36. Wales uses the same 6 and 9 months as England. The XI tag change in Northern Ireland is in our sheep EID tags guide.
Northern Ireland: the DAERA sheep and goat guidance sets before 9 months, or 6 if normally housed overnight, a movement document each time sheep leave, and 3 years for register and documents.
Finally, the year-end. The annual inventory count is on 1 December, returned by 31 December, and lambing records are what make that number match your register.
Within 6 months of birth if reared indoors, 9 months if reared outdoors, or before the lamb leaves the holding of birth if that comes first. Tag at lambing rather than at the deadline, because a lamb that goes to market untagged is already late.
Within 36 hours of tagging, and within 36 hours of replacing a tag, of a movement or of discovering a death. England asks for the date, official ID number, year of birth, and breed and genotype if known. Scotland allows 48 hours.
GOV.UK does not say. A death entry asks for the official ID number, which an untagged lamb does not have. Check with LIS or RPA if unsure, and keep your own dated tally so the year-end count balances.
No. GOV.UK says stillborn animals and afterbirth fall under the fallen stock rules. Burial and burning on the farm are banned, and they must be collected without undue delay by an approved transporter and sent to an approved site.
Replace a lost or damaged tag within 28 days of noticing, or before the sheep leaves the holding if sooner. Use a replica to keep the number, or a new tag, which must be red if the lamb was not born on your holding.