DEAR SIR: I recently received, by registered post, a letter informing me that a restriction had been placed on my herd due to the fact that I had retained a PI animal beyond the allowed five-week window. To say that I was upset, angry and confused would be an understatement.

The fact of the matter is that the animal had been removed from my herd three days before the five weeks had elapsed to the knackery.

It was decided to retest the animal due to an anomaly with the primary ear notch test, so the animal was isolated and presented for a blood test after three weeks as required under the eradication programme. This was taken by our vet. The blood result took a week to return. The subsequent result was still positive, so it was decided to dispose of the animal as required to the local knackery.

This means I am fully compliant with the rules of the eradication programme. I rang the DVO to query this mistake, to be informed by them that not only was I restricted but that name and shame letters had issued to all my neighbours informing them of me being a “PI Retainer”, which is a complete untruth.

These letters were issued on day one of week six, which I find unbelievable. This leaves only one day for the knackery to return the death certificate and for the Department to process it. I fully advocate the issuing of name and shame letters for those retaining PIs. The trouble for me is that I haven’t, and still have had my reputation destroyed.

This is a very upsetting situation for me and my family. AHI really needs to seriously examine the protocol that is in place for issuing these letters as it doesn’t allow any time for the death notification to arrive from the knackery or for the Department to process it correctly, both of which are outside of my control.

This means that this issue could arise for many others. This is a totally unacceptable situation and could undermine the credibility of the whole programme.