Sheep and goat keeper requirements

This is only a summary of requirements for records, tagging, movement reporting, deadstock and medicine requirements. If you are unsure what to do on your farm, then contact the Agriculture Directorate for advice.

All keepers of sheep and/or goats must register their holdings with the department. Please use the link below to apply online.

Aim

• To ensure all sheep can be identified
• To ensure the owner or keeper can be traced
• To ensure traceability in the food chain
• To support effective disease control and containment
• To enable tracing of sheep movements for disease investigation, contact tracing and slaughter

Legislation

There is a legal requirement to mark all sheep with a permanent and official identification. This is an EU Regulation which currently is enacted in Manx Law through:

• Animal Health Act 1996
• Sheep and Goats Identification Order 2000
• Sheep and Goats (Record, Identification and Movement) Order 2015

Legislation requirements

There is a legal requirement that details of all sheep and goats moved, sold, re-identified and death must be notified on the flock register within 72 hours of the event. The flock/herdmark and individual number must be recorded for accurate traceability of sheep and goat movements.

Keepers are required to hold additional records detailing year of birth and the month of identification (for sheep born after 1 January 2012). All records, (physical flockbook or electronic) must be made available to a Department Officer upon request. Sheep and Goat records must be retained for at least 3 years.

Please refer to the Tagging Requirements Summary for which tags are required. 

Keeper should, on or before 4 June each year, notify the department the total number of sheep and/ or goats on a holding on the 4 May. This should be recorded as a separate entry in flock register. You can do this by entering inventory on IOMEID, or by notifying us.

Veterinary Medicines records must be kept for food producing animals (including all sheep or goats) for at least 5 years in accordance with the Veterinary Medicine (Application) Regulations 2026.

IOMEID

Keepers are encouraged to use IOMEID to keep records electronically.

Entering information on the IOMEID system constitutes as official notification to the department. Entering movements, cross referencing re-tags, deaths and entering total inventory on the IOMEID system replaces the need to notify the Department via paper forms. Please still ensure that it is recorded within 72 hours of the event.

Note: Critical Control Points (CCPs) are automatically recorded on the system so there is no need to enter these movements on the system, if you do not keep your records on IOMEID please keep records of tag numbers and dates. Current CCPs include: IOM Meats, The Mart, Export/ Import from UK/ Foregin.

General notes

The Department is no longer producing sheep movement books. However, the downloadable template can be used to fulfil this requirement.

For further information please contact:

The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture is committed to ensuring that its services are accessible to all. If you require these documents in an alternative format and / or language please contact us to discuss your needs.