The National Genotyping Programme (NGP) is now in week nine, with close to 218,000 passports issued so far in 2024.
The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) said that last week saw more than 98,000 samples processed.
This is the largest number of samples processed in seven days, highlighting a major milestone in the programme.
In the NGP update released today (Tuesday February 27, 2024), ICBF said that the turnaround from birth to passport being issued is now 13.3 days.
ICBF also stated that 98% of calf samples received in the lab continue to be processed within seven days.
The NGP is a collaborative initiative enabling Ireland to take the first step in achieving a fully genotyped national herd.
The programme, administered by ICBF, is based on a cost-sharing model between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), the beef and dairy industry and participating farmers.
ICBF
Last week ICBF announced a number of measures to decrease the amount of time that samples where spending in lab after many farmers participants raised concerns.
ICBF said that as a result of the improvements implemented last week, farmers should now receive text message notifications about samples in the lab if the timeframe is ten days or more.
As part of these measures the passport for a calf will automatically be issued on day ten of the sample in the lab and the genotype will follow.
Similarly samples that are deemed empty or unsuitable will also prompt the passport to be issued.
However farmers will need to follow up with their tag company to order a new DNA button tag to resample the calf for its genomic evaluation.
Genotyping programme
ICBF announced that over 82,000 calf samples were received into the lab and more than 98,000 samples were processed in the lab.
The average time from birth to sample being received in the lab was 6.9 days.
Samples spent on average 4.7 days in the lab, which has increased from 4.5 days in the previous week.
The average turnaround time from birth to passport being issued has also increased from 13.1 days in week eight to 13.3 days in week nine of the programme.
In the latest update ICBF detailed that a total of 285,827 calf samples have been received in the lab to date and that 248,060 calf samples have been genotyped to date.