Keeping sheep and goats in England
The rules you must follow to ensure sheep and goats, including those kept as pets, can be traced to prevent and contain disease.
When keeping sheep or goats (livestock or pets), you must follow rules to ensure they can be traced at all times. This helps to prevent and contain the spread of disease.
These rules apply to anyone with permanent or temporary responsibility for the day-to-day care or control of sheep or goats in England. This includes:
- farmers
- if you’re keeping a sheep or goat as a hobby or as a pet
- slaughterhouse operators and lairages
- market operators
- showground operators
- collection and assembly centre operators
- hauliers
Find out the:
- rules for sheep and goat keepers in Wales
- rules for sheep and goat keepers in Scotland
- rules for sheep and goat keepers in Northern Ireland
Find out about other rules farmers and land managers must follow.
It’s your responsibility to follow the rules to avoid penalties such as movement restrictions on your herd, reduced subsidy payments, fines or prosecution.
Get a county parish holding (CPH) number
You must first register where you’ll keep sheep and goats with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). You’ll get a county parish holding (CPH) number, which you’ll need for tasks like reporting movements and ordering ear tags or other identifiers.
Get a temporary land association (TLA) or a temporary county parish holding (tCPH) number
You may need to get a temporary land association (TLA) or temporary county parish holding (tCPH) number to link the land or buildings where you’ll keep sheep or goats with your CPH number.
You must do this if:
- your CPH number is registered to your home address (for example, because you do not own any of the land where you’ll keep sheep or goats, or you keep them as pets)
- you use extra land temporarily to keep sheep or goats (for example, you rent an extra field or building for less than a year)
Get a flock or herd mark
You must register with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to get a flock mark for sheep or a herd mark for goats. You’ll need this to get tags (or boluses) to identify animals born on your holding and replace lost or damaged tags.
Keep your registered details up to date
You must contact RPA and APHA if your details change after you register with them. Find out when and how to contact them.
Tag sheep and goats
You must tag sheep and goats correctly. Find out when and how to tag sheep or goats, what with and where to buy them.
Report sheep and goat movements
Find out the rules on moving sheep and goats and what you must report to the Livestock Information Service (LIS).
Keep a holding register
You must record sheep and goat movements, deaths and replacement ear tags, pastern bands or boluses in a holding register. Find out how to do this and when to update it. You must also complete an annual inventory.
What to do when a sheep or goat dies
When sending sheep or goats to slaughter, report the movement off your holding to LIS and record it in your holding register. The slaughterhouse must report the movement onto their holding and record it in their holding register.
When a sheep or goat dies on a holding, you do not need to report this to LIS. You must record the death in your holding register and follow the rules to safely and legally dispose of the animal.
Importing sheep and goats
What you must do when you import sheep and goats, including how to tag them and report the movement and what to record in your holding register.
Exporting sheep and goats
What you must do when you export sheep and goats, including how to tag them and report the movement and what to record in your holding register.
Site visits: what to expect
What to expect if the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) visits your farm or premises to check sheep and goats’ tags, your holding register and movement records.
Last updated 4 December 2023 + show all updates
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Clarified when you need to get a temporary land association or temporary county parish holding number.
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First published.