Just in case it helps, the attached pic shows what a SET tag looks like with pedigree information added.
The letters are too small to read until you have the sheep caught, but once you have, they're legible enough.
So, SET tags right from the beginning this year then. That should keep things nice and simple .
Of course the society doesn't help having a DEFRA # a pedigree # & a flockbook number can be a bit confusing (as well as pointless)
With zwartbles, you can keep both numbers the same if you wish (it's personal choice, as long as the numbers are unique). So, for example our old tup was UK0544064/00087, and his zwartbles number was 00741-087A, where 00741 is the ZSA flock number, and A is the year of birth. So if your breed society will allow you to use non-sequential numbers, that could be worth considering to keep things simple?