Concern is rising in the Department of Agriculture and among farmers at the number of cattle tissue ear tags failing to work properly.

Already more than 6,000 results designated as empty or blank have been sent back to farmers, who must order a replacement tag and retest the animal. For dairy farmers, it means rearing the calf on for at least another 10 days until a valid result is obtained and it can be sold.

When the additional calf feed is included, the cost to farmers is up to €30 per empty tag. If the present empty rate continues, the full-year cost on farmers will approach €1m.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands the Department is carrying out an investigation but so far has not conclusively identified why there are so many empty BVD tags. The Department has made it known that the problem is occurring across all tag brands and all testing laboratories.

Empty rates

Empty rates have increased by 66% between 2017 and 2018 to date. By this week in 2017, there were 3,660 empty samples, but this year the number is 6,061 empties.

In 2016, the empty rate was 0.6% of all tissue tags, rising in 2017 to 1.02%. In 2018 so far, the rate has risen to 1.54% and could rise further in the coming weeks.

This week, angry farmers wanting to sell calves contacted the Irish Farmers Journal claiming that they were getting up to 10 and 15 samples back empty in a batch of 30 to 40.

IFA animal health chair Pat Farrell said he has secured commitments from all tag supply companies that would see farmers provided immediately with resampling tags once an empty is identified. He is in discussion with Animal Health Ireland to agree a mechanism allowing retesting at minimum cost.

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