There is now a simple and cost effective solution for dairy and beef producers who’ve missed the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) registration and passport application deadline for new-born calves.
The only way to apply for a passport for an animal that’s missed the official 27-day deadline is to prove its parentage using DNA profiling. Samples must be taken by a vet, from mother and calf, for analysis and must prove to be a genetic match if a passport is to be issued by the BCMS.
At just £35, IGENITY – Merial’s parentage verification and genetic marker profiling tool – is considerably better value than some competitors’ tests, which cost closer to £60 each for parentage verification alone. However for breeders looking for parentage verification alone it costs just £20 per animal. And with a fast turn around time – usually within 10 working days – it also offers a relatively speedy solution.
EU regulations state that birth registration must be made within seven days of the birth of the animal, or seven days after the animal has been tagged. Great Britain adopts the latter rule, giving producers the maximum 20 days in which to tag their animals and a further seven days after that to register the birth and apply for a passport. There is no scope to extend the deadline beyond 27 days, unless parentage is verified using DNA testing, according to the BCMS.
Accurate and early registration provides that every animal arriving at slaughter is the correct age (below 30 months old), is BSE free and therefore fit for human consumption. But without full certainty of the date of birth and the genetic link between calf and mother this would not be possible.
Carlisle-based vet Charlie Foster, of Border Vets, says IGENITY is certainly the most competitively priced genetic profiling tool available to vets and their cattle producer clients to verify parentage.
"It’s particularly attractive for our commercial clients, as well as those who breed more valuable pedigree stock," he says. "Commercial producers can easily justify the cost of this test in order to register their animals – even those that are of relatively low value – if they miss the BCMS deadline."
In addition to parentage verification, the comprehensive IGENITY profile includes multiple marker analyses for traits such as tenderness, heifer pregnancy rate, longevity, calving ease, docility, coat colour, breed-specific horned/polled and an optional diagnostic test for persistent infections (PI) of the bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) virus. And IGENITY also offers profiling from punch biopsy ear tags, which collects a small skin sample at the point of application.
