With February just about wrapped up, there is an influx of calves hitting the ground that need to be registered and genotyped.

And as more calves hit the ground and farmers collect samples for the National Genotyping Programme (NGP), the lab is getting increasingly busy.

In fact, the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) stated that they had a record-breaking week in the Genotyping Lab last week.

ICBF confirmed that as of Tuesday, February 24, 118,030 samples were received in the lab last week alone, with 116,673 samples processed during the week.

The previous record only stood a week, with ICBF confirming on February 17 that 116,662 calf samples were received in the lab the week prior, with 85,527 calf samples processed in the lab during that time.

NGP postage

Some farmers may be experiencing slight delays in getting passports back, but ICBF has confirmed that the average turnaround time from birth to passport being issued was 14.5 days.

This has stretched since January, when the turnaround time was  11.8 days, as the sheer amount of samples has increased by over 100,000.

However, the average time a sample spent in the lab last week was still only 4.6 days, according to ICBF, which is the same as it was in January.

The longest part of the process is the period between the sample being taken at birth to it being received in the genotyping lab.

Last week, this was 7.2 days, which was lower than the previous week at 8.1 days.

Delays

ICBF is encouraging farmers to regularly post DNA and BVD samples to avoid potential postage delays.

Farmers are also being reminded to send DNA samples only to the genotyping lab to avoid any potential delays. 

Farmers were also reminded that postal delays may also occur in the delivery of the animal passports, however this is outside of ICBF’s control.

Tips to avoiding delays in the return of genomic samples as per ICBF are as follows:

Post samples at least twice weekly and choose set days (e.g., Monday and Wednesday) and stick to them. This is particularly important for herds who wish to sell any surplus calves as soon as possible;
Use only the official pink plastic NGP return envelope as they are more durable and easier to identify in postal sorting;
Do not use paper or non-official envelopes, as they can tear easily and may cause further delays.