The Dealer was delighted to see the new protocol on BVD sample reporting come in to place this week.

The Department of Agriculture will notify my tag supplier if a sample shows up empty in the lab, speeding up the process of re-sampling.

It’s a step in the right direction. But the Department said that the information gathered on this gives tag supply companies the “opportunity evaluate the performance of their product”.

And it looks like the farmer will still be expected to pay for the retest.

When asked, the Department said: “Payment in respect of all tags is a commercial matter between the farmer and the tag supply company.”