The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland (DAERA) is reminding all livestock keepers they have less than four weeks to use any remaining stocks of ‘UK’ prefixed livestock identification (ID) tags that they hold.
From the June 30, 2025 only ‘XI’ prefixed tags can be used to identify newborn cattle, sheep, and goats.
A DAERA spokesperson said: “DAERA facilitated a 12-month transitional period to allow livestock keepers time to use up stocks of ‘UK’ prefixed livestock tags.
“However, this transitional period will end soon and from June 30, 2025, any unused ‘UK’ prefixed tags will become obsolete and keepers will not be able to use them to identify their animals.”
DAERA continues to recommend that ‘XI’ prefixed tags are applied to newborn animals that may be exported to outside the UK in the future.
Otherwise, they may have to be re-identified prior to export.
There is no requirement to re-identify animals with ‘XI’ tags, if identified in Northern Ireland, with ‘UK’ tags prior to June 30, 2025, if they will remain in the UK.
However, livestock keepers, will need to check the identification requirements for animals destined for the EU, which is available on the DAERA website.
New ID tags
The change to the prefix code on livestock tags, which is a legal requirement under EU Animal Health Law, will ensure continued unfettered access to both EU and UK internal markets for NI livestock and agri-food products.
DAERA has stated that this is subject to normal export eligibility requirements.
Since June 24, 2024:
- All new cattle tags issued in NI begin with ‘XI 0’, replacing ‘UK 9’. This will allow the whole tag number to be encoded on electronic identification devices in future;
- All new sheep tags issued in NI begin with XI 17 replacing ‘UK 17’.
From June 30, 2025, all sheep being exported to the Republic of Ireland must be identified with ‘XI’ tags prior to their export,.
This includes any previously identified with ‘UK’ tags with the re-identification being recorded in the flock register.
Keepers may wish to consider identifying all sheep going to market with ‘XI’ tags to ensure they are eligible for purchase for export.
However, cattle identified with ‘UK’ tags prior to June 30, 2025 can still be exported to Ireland after this date without being re-identified with ‘XI’ tags.
Currently all livestock exported to continental Europe must be identified with ‘XI’ tags prior to their export.
Any such animals previously tagged with ‘UK’ tags must be re-identified with ‘XI’ tags. For cattle, this must be done under veterinary supervision.
