On Monday 3rd November, the Livestock Unique Identification Service (LUIS) upgrade went live, with great support from Defra teams and Ear Tag Manufacturers who use the livestock tagging service.   

The upgrade is another step towards the new Livestock Information Service (LIS) for cattle planned to replace the Cattle Tracing System (CTS) for English cattle notifications in 2026 and enabling the use of Bovine EID tags in the future.  

Ear Tag Manufacturers who use LUIS APIs to manage their ear tag orders have been consulted throughout the process, and we extend our thanks to those who supported the testing over the weekend prior to the upgrade going live.   

Due to an unexpected issue which occurred following the global Microsoft azure outage, a small number of support users were impacted, however, these have now been resolved. 

Additional checks will be in place and further technical support will be available until early December to ensure the upgrade is working correctly and users are satisfied with the updated ear tag order process.  

Footnote:  

The LUIS was established by LI Ltd in 2022, replacing the Ear Tag Allocation Systems for sheep and cattle that were initially introduced in 1994. LUIS is now the official government service responsible for allocating the unique identification codes for all sheep and goat, and cattle ear tags (both electronic and non-electronic) and electronic boluses in England, Scotland and Wales.