The increase in the price of national stamps will not translate into an increase for farmers to post BVD tags and National Genotyping Programme tags this year.

While the cost of a stamp for a letter will increase from €1.40 to €1.65 from Thursday 27 February, the cost of posting BVD and genotyping samples will remain at €2.95 for farmers in 2025.

The cost of sending BVD samples has risen by 85c since 2023 – there was a 35c increase in 2023 and a 50c increase in 2024. With over 2.2m calves born last year, sending the BVD samples to the lab cost farmers €649,000 in 2024.

Enfer Labs told the Irish Farmers Journal that there have been increased enquiries from farmers wondering if it will cost more to post samples this year.

According to Enfer, as long as the envelope is under 500g, they can fit in as many samples as they like for €2.95. Enfer posts out plastic envelopes at the start of every year to farmers. However, not all labs do this which means some farmers have to use a padded envelope.

“The price is staying at €2.95 for up to 500g,” Enfer said. “That would be more than the 10 samples so we’re telling farmers to use a kitchen weighing scales to weigh out their samples to see how many they can get in for their €2.95. They can keep the samples in the fridge for up to a week so if they knew they had more coming they can send them in together.”

Animal Health Ireland (AHI), which runs the BVD Programme, advises farmers dealing with labs who don’t send out plastic envelopes to place samples in a sealable bag within a padded envelope and write their name, address and herd number on the top left-hand corner of the envelope.