The postal dispute that began last week is disrupting farmers trying to return tissue samples under the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) and the Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) eradication scheme.

The Irish Cattle Breeding federation (ICBF) and Animal Health Ireland (AHI) are advising farmers to delay posting samples in order to keep samples in optimum condition for analysis. An AHI spokesperson said: “During the current disruption to postal services, AHI advises farmers who have BVD tissue samples for posting to retain these samples in a non-domestic refrigerator until normal service has been restored.”

An ICBF spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal that while tissue samples must ideally be returned within 28 days of their arrival on farm, samples delayed due to current postal disruptions will not be penalised. The ICBF said the overarching focus is on maintaining the samples in optimum condition. They advise farmers to store tags in the return envelope in a dry place at room temperature. Samples should not be frozen and should be posted as soon as possible after postal disruptions end.

Delay sending tissue tags until postal dispute passes

The bodies analysing tissue tags for genomics and BDV testing have said they should be kept refrigerated until current disruption to postal services come to an end.