130,000 tissue samples have been returned so far this year by herds participating in the BDGP. In total, just over 300,000 tissue tags have been issued to herds on a phased basis, over the past 6-8 weeks. This equates to 42% of tags returned to date.
Farmers will receive a text message acknowledging receipt of tissue samples by the lab as soon as they are processed. Due to the large volume of samples currently being received, it may be 10-14 days before samples are “scanned in” by the lab and a text message can be sent.
Important to Return Samples Early
Farmers are encouraged to try and return samples within 28 days of receiving them. This is to try and ensure that as many genotypes as possible will be in the database for the next evaluation (Sept 2018). The cut-off date for data and genotypes for the September evaluation is 27th July. To ensure that genotypes make it to the database in time, samples should be returned no later than the 30th June. For more details on the upcoming evaluation publication dates, click here.