The Sheep Service went live 28th March 2022, Cattle Service coming soon.

Frequently Asked Questions

LI Ltd is developing England’s Livestock Information Service technology, with the ability to trace multiple species through one system. It aims to roll out the enhanced service to cattle keepers by the end of 2025, replacing in England the Cattle Tracing System (CTS). English cattle movement data will transition from CTS to the enhanced service.

LI Ltd are aiming to roll out the enhanced service to cattle keepers by the end of 2025.

A public consultation is a process which involves members of the public providing their views and feedback on changes or updates to a particular policy or proposal. Defra's consultation on Changes to Bovine Identification, Registration and Movement ran for 8 weeks between 21 September and 15 November. Defra will report on the outcomes of this consultation in due course.

This consultation covered ‘CHANGES TO BOVINE IDENTIFICATION, REGISTRATION AND MOVEMENT’, focusing on the prospective changes and resulting benefits of new cattle ID regulations, including:

  • Simplification of the regulations.
  • Fairer and more proportionate enforcement.
  • Bovine electronic identification.
  • Future holding registers.
  • Removing passports for cattle fitted with bovine electronic identification.
  • Movements and reporting, with whole movement reporting, options to report moves in advance and provision of transportation details.
  • Introduction of paperless processing.
  • Late registration of calves.

The full consultation document can be viewed on Gov.uk:online

The new Multispecies platform will be future proofed to ensure the current bovine consultation and any future legislation changes can be enabled by the system.

Defra is reviewing, testing and seeking feedback on the different electronic identification technologies available, this is to ensure the future decision works for the sector and for traceability. BEID technologies for official identification of cattle will need to meet globally recognised ISO standards for cattle identification.

Defra plan to rollout BEID in a controlled way, at a suitable point for industry. This will be when the additional capability needed to support BEID has been fully tested.