Number 8 or 3?

A more traditional spring photograph than my road works effort on Friday.  I was aiming for a photograph of the mudflats but the tide was not far out enough, so the sheep in this field came in handy for a blip.  I am really a townie who lives in the sticks, so I am not going to pronounce on what breed of sheep this is, but I notice it has tags in both ears plus of course the number sprayed on it.  I take it that this means each individual sheep is registered and tracked throughout its life, an ID system basically.  At least these animals have time out in the fields and are not cooped up inside for their entire life.