Well, the EID system is set up to supposedly speed up the processes of sheep going through marts and to slaughter, because the tags should be readable without a person having to handle every sheep and read each tag number. However, given that there are more sheep in Britain than any other country in Europe, you could be forgiven for thinking that the rules are designed just to get at the Brits. Most of the problems seem to arise in smaller breeds of sheep, which are usually also rare breeds and the RBST is in an ideal position to take up this cause. Even though I am a member I have not heard that they have made any progress here. European countries with relatively small numbers of sheep have a derogation not to have the EID system and apparently Ouessants have a personal derogation in France because they are small. So only Britain seems to feel the need to impose the rules slavishly across the board, in spite of the problems which clearly exist. Tagging itself has long been a cause for welfare concern, but the EID tags are a bit heavier and bulkier, often just enough to tip the balance and our sheep end up with shredded ears. I have a suspicion that those who make the rules in Brussels have never seen a sheep close up, let alone wondered how strong their ears are.
I think the movement docs will soon change so individual numbers have to be recorded. Already you should be recording individual numbers in your flock records.....
