The letters advise the farmers as to whether or not they currently meet the eligibility criteria necessary for the awarding of Negative Herd Status (NHS), from 1st January 2015 .

The main purpose of the letter was to make farmers of the BVD testing requirements for 2015 ,at the same time as tag order forms were being delivered to farms.

Animal Health Ireland says it was not possible, in the time available, to include in these letters the tag numbers of the animals preventing herds from acquiring NHS. However, the programming to enable this information to be provided is currently being completed, and a further letter will issue within the next two weeks to farmers whose herds are currently ineligible for NHS.

These letters will provide the tag numbers of any animals which are preventing the acquisition of NHS and indicate the follow-up actions available to the farmer in each case.

For those farmers who have identified a PI animal during the course of 2014, the earliest date on which NHS can be awarded will be 12 months following the removal of that animal. Alerts will issue to farmers when the status of the herd changes.