The Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (Scotland) Order 2019

Sampling of breeding herds in accordance with compliance deadlines

9.—(1) For the purposes of this article, a breeding herd does not include any bovine animal which has an individual BVD status of negative.

(2) The keeper of a breeding herd which is not kept in the Shetland Islands and is not a dairy breeding herd must, by each compliance deadline, take samples as described in any one of the sub-paragraphs of paragraph (3).

(3) The samples described in this paragraph are—

(a) from each of the bovine animals in the herd either—

(i) an ear tag sample of tissue taken in accordance with article 14, or

(ii) a sample of blood,

(b) a sample of blood from—

(i) each of 5 calves between the age of 9 and 18 months in the relevant group,

(ii) each of 10 calves between the age of 6 and 18 months in the relevant group, or

(iii) where there are no calves between the ages of 6 and 18 months in the relevant group, each of 5 bovine animals in the relevant group which are over the age of 18 months and have not left the holding of their birth,

(c) subject to paragraph (8), from each of the calves in the herd born in the immediately preceding 12 month period—

(i) an ear tag sample of tissue taken in accordance with article 14, or

(ii) a sample of blood.

(4) The keeper of a breeding herd kept in any area within the Shetland Islands, must, by each compliance deadline, take a sample of blood from each of 5 calves between the age of 6 and 18 months in the relevant group.

(5) The keeper of a dairy breeding herd, must, by each compliance deadline, take a sample of blood from each of 10 calves between the age of 9 and 18 months in the relevant group.

(6) For the purposes of this article “relevant group” means—

(a) in the case of a breeding herd which does not contain any separately managed groups, the herd, and

(b) in the case of a breeding herd which contains two or more separately managed groups, each separately managed group.

(7) Where—

(a) any sub-paragraph of paragraph (3) requires the keeper to take samples from a specified number of bovine animals of any description (“the described animals”), and

(b) the relevant group contains a number of described animals that is fewer than the specified number,

the specified number in the relevant sub-paragraph is to be read as the total number of the described animals in the relevant group.

(8) Paragraph (3)(c) applies only where no calves have been removed from the herd in the immediately preceding 12 month period.