The Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (Scotland) Order 2019

Ear tag samples of tissue

14.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), an ear tag sample of tissue is taken in accordance with this article if it is extracted from the animal from an official ear tag or a management tag and the vessel used to collect the sample complies with the conditions in paragraph (2).

(2) The conditions in this paragraph are—

(a) the vessel used to collect the sample must have a pre-printed identification number which is identical to the official ear tag number or the number on the management tag (as the case may be), and

(b) the identification number—

(i) is notified along with the animal’s ear tag number when the sample is submitted, and

(ii) in the case of a sample taken from a bovine animal in a breeding herd, is used only once within the herd.

(3) The keeper must not take (or arrange to have taken) an ear tag sample of tissue from any bovine animal from which a sample has previously been collected from a management tag for the purpose of submitting for sampling under this Order.

(4) Where a sample of tissue is taken from a calf under 20 days of age, the sample must be taken from an official ear tag unless—

(a) a sample of tissue has previously been taken from the calf from an official ear tag in which case the sample must be taken from a management tag, or

(b) the calf has died before the sample is taken in which case the sample may be taken from an official ear tag or a management tag.

(5) For the purposes of this article, “collected” includes any attempt to collect a sample.