Every time sheep or goats move on or off a holding, the movement goes in your holding register and gets reported to your nation's system. The deadline most keepers have to remember is three days, and it usually falls on the keeper receiving the animals.
In England, Wales and Scotland the keeper receiving sheep must report the movement within 3 days of arrival. England reports to the Livestock Information Service, Wales to EIDCymru and Scotland to the Scottish Animal Movement Unit. Every keeper must also record the move in the holding register, within 36 hours in England. A standstill follows new arrivals: 6 days in England and Wales, 13 in Scotland. Northern Ireland runs on the movement document and flock register. Cattle follow a separate system, covered in our cattle 3-day reporting rule.
Two jobs follow every movement. The move goes in your holding register, and it gets reported to the national database for your nation. The deadline that catches people out is three days, and in England, Wales and Scotland it sits with the keeper who receives the animals.
In England you must report on movements within 3 days of the animal arriving, and the sending keeper cannot do it for you. Wales and Scotland set the same three days for the destination holding. Northern Ireland works differently.
| Nation | Where the report goes | Receiving keeper's deadline | Standstill after new arrivals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | Livestock Information Service (LIS) | 3 days from arrival | 6 days |
| Wales | EIDCymru | 3 days from the move | 6 days |
| Scotland | Scottish Animal Movement Unit (SAMU) | 3 days from arrival | 13 days |
| Northern Ireland | DAERA, through the movement document and flock register | No keeper deadline confirmed | No whole-farm standstill |
A movement is any time animals go on or off your holding, including sales, purchases, markets, shows and slaughter, as the GOV.UK keeper guide explains.
Before you move anything you need a CPH number, a flock mark from APHA and a holding register that you update within 36 hours of each move. The off movement is the sending keeper's half, and there are two routes.
Report it online through LIS, or through farm software linked to LIS, or use the paper LIS-1 movement document. Paper comes as four identical copies: you keep one and give three to the haulier, who keeps one and passes two to the receiving keeper.
You report the address the animals go to, the haulier's details and the total number. You must also give official ID numbers, except for sheep going to a central point recording centre, moves between holdings in your own business where you stay in day-to-day charge, and lambs with slaughter tags.
GOV.UK sets no separate deadline for the off movement. My advice is to do it before the lorry leaves the yard, so the receiving keeper can simply confirm it.
Both, and each reports their own half. The usual trap is assuming the seller has dealt with it. In England, if the seller reported online you confirm the move on LIS. If they used paper only, you report the whole move by completing the destination section and posting or emailing a copy to LIS.
In Wales the receiving keeper must record the movement on EIDCymru within 3 days: accept it online if the sender or market reported it, record it online if they did not, or send in the AML1 form. If you bought at a market, the centre reports the move and you log on to check and accept it.
In Scotland the Scottish Government says the receiving keeper reports to SAMU within 3 days. The movement document is a triplicate: the white copy travels with the animals and goes on to SAMU, the receiving keeper keeps the yellow and the departing keeper keeps the pink. Ask a Scottish market what it has already notified for you.
Confirm the current Scottish route with your market or the Scottish Government, since it sits alongside ScotEID.
Markets that scan EID are central point recording centres (CPRCs). On the LIS-1 you give the total number and the date and tick the CPRC box. The market scans the tags and gives you the official ID numbers afterwards.
In England you add those numbers to your register, and GOV.UK says within 48 hours of sending the animals. Until then the register holds the date and the total. In Wales you batch record the move and the centre gives you identities and count within 48 hours.
Check the list against what you sent. A short count is far easier to chase that week than at inspection. Our livestock markets directory helps you find the nearest EID market.
No. Reporting tells the system a move happened. Standstill decides whether you may move other animals off afterwards. In England, if you bring cattle, sheep or goats on from another holding, you must not move any cattle, sheep, goats or pigs off for 6 days. Day 1 is the day after arrival, so sheep arriving on a Monday are clear on the following Monday. Direct-to-slaughter moves, including red markets, are exempt.
Wales applies six days too. Scotland is stricter: all livestock become subject to a 13-day standstill when an animal is brought on, unless kept under an approved separation agreement. In Northern Ireland the whole-farm standstill stopped applying on 4 March 2013, though an animal cannot go to a market within 6 days of another market.
The three-day cattle rule guide shows how reporting and standstill sit together. A flock can be perfectly reported and still break standstill.
England lists the exceptions. You need not report a move to or from a vet for emergency treatment, land with the same CPH number, or common land registered with RPA as linked to your holding. Frequent moves on foot to bordering land with a different CPH number, with no contact with other livestock, need no report, but you must keep a standing entry in your holding register.
You also need not report movements within 10 miles of your main area if the land is registered to your CPH and the sheep will not mix with anyone else's. A temporary land association does the same for land used under a year.
Do not stretch these. If sheep can touch noses over a fence, or a rented field has its own CPH, treat it as a movement. In Northern Ireland, DAERA says a movement document is needed each time sheep move off a holding, including to common grazing and shows.
GOV.UK warns of movement restrictions, reduced subsidy payments, fines or prosecution. The likelier first sign is a field visit. RPA picks holdings partly by risk, and the risk factors include late movement reporting and ignoring standstill. The officer checks your holding register against what you reported to LIS.
My advice: report on the day the sheep arrive, keep the paper copy for three years where needed, and write the register entry while the haulier is still in the yard. Late is better than never, but it does not undo the miss. The holding register guide covers what to write down, and the UK livestock deadlines calendar the other dates.
FarmHQ is a mobile-first farm office app for UK livestock farms, in pre-launch beta. The aim is to log the movement once, at the gate, with Ask Farmer Joe drafting the entry for you to confirm. Nothing goes to a government system without your tap. Tag rules are in our sheep EID tags guide, and hauliers are in the livestock haulage directory.
In England, Wales and Scotland the receiving keeper reports within 3 days of the animals arriving. In England you must also record the move in your holding register within 36 hours. Northern Ireland is run through the movement document and the flock register, so check the current position with DAERA.
No. In England GOV.UK says the sending keeper cannot report the on movement for you. They report the off movement, you report the on movement, or confirm theirs on LIS if they reported online. If you buy through a market, check what the market has already reported before assuming the move is covered.
Not necessarily. English sheep and goats have reported to LIS since March 2022, while cattle are still moving across from BCMS during the switch described in our BCMS to LIS guide. Wales built EIDCymru as its sheep system. Check which species each account covers before you rely on it.
Not if the land shares your CPH number, or is within 10 miles of your main area and registered to your CPH with no mixing with other livestock. If the field has a different CPH number you do report, though you need not list ID numbers when you stay the keeper.
In England the receiving keeper keeps a paper or scanned copy for 3 years from arrival, unless both the on and off movements were reported online. DAERA says Northern Ireland flock registers and movement documents are kept at least 3 years, and Wales and Scotland have their own copy rules, so check the guidance for your nation.