[farm club]

Hi i currently have 20 sheep on a friends farm , where I use his his holding number and ear tag number. I have been offered some land to rent . And i want to buy some show sheep to go on there, with my own flock number and holding number. How can I do this please . Any advice greatly received.  Thanks Mike.

[SallyintNorth]

Sheep are tagged at birth with the flock number of the holding where they were born.  So any sheep you buy in will already be tagged and you do not apply your own tags to them.

If and when you have lambs born in your own holding, then you would put your own tags in their ears.

As soon as you have land on which you intend to keep sheep, you apply for a holding number.  This has the format cc/ppp/nnnn, where cc is the county code, ppp the parish code and nnnn the individual holding number within the parish.  You cannot move sheep onto your land until you have a holding number.

You would also tell Animal Health that you intend to keep sheep, whereupon they will issue you with a flock number.  This has the format UKnnnnnn.  When you have in-lamb ewes, you would then order ear tags for the lambs to come.  These tags would have the flock number on them.

[Marches Farmer]

As soon as you have land on which you intend to keep sheep, you apply for a holding number. 

We've taken on more grazing locally and the owner was quoted a 10-week wait for a holding number!  I spoke to the APHA and said the grazing was needed for animal welfare reasons and ta CPH was allocated within a week.  You have to phone up and activate the new CPH number when you first put stock on it.

[Penninehillbilly]

You say you have 20 sheep, using your friends flock /tag numbers. Are any of these sheep lambs born in your ownership? If so surely they should have your own number? I don't think you need your own CPH to own sheep?
Or have I got it wrong and you've bought them off your friend and still keeping them on his land?

[farm club]

Hi pennine  hill Billy, as I stated I have 20 sheep on my freinds farm. Which we share, but it was easier for me to use his holding number and flock number. I have now aquired a few acres of my own and I am buying some pedigree Texel so I will need my own cph and flock number once the ewes had lambed. I have phoned defra this week and sorted this. Sorry for any confusion.  Mike Farm Club.