Are you a Food Business Operator?
Have you had your water tested recently, in line with HSE/Bord Bia guidelines?
At Oldcastle Laboratories Ltd, we are committed to ensuring the highest quality service at an affordable cost.
We can complete your testing for the below
Give us a call on 049 8541160, and we would be happy to organise a quotation for your business today!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION – BVD TESTING
All herds that have one or more positive or inconclusive results for BVD virus are required to undergo a BVD herd investigation, funded under the Rural Development Plan 2014-2020. Herd owners will be contacted by the BVD Helpdesk to nominate the trained veterinary practitioner they wish to conduct their investigation.
Funded, whole herd sampling to detect any unidentified PI animals must be conducted as part of the investigation.
The option to retest animals with initial inconclusive or virus positive results is no longer permitted.
Funded vaccination of female animals over 12 months of age also must be carried out.
Investigations must be completed as soon as possible. Only when the virus-positive animals are removed and the investigation, blood sampling and vaccination are completed, herd restrictions will be lifted.
For more information, please visit www.animalhealthireland.ie.
Please read the procedure for submitting bloods to Oldcastle Laboratories Ltd for Vets below
Vets Procedure for Submitting Bloods for TASAH Scheme
Submission form
Call us on 049-8541160 to request a copy of your submission form by email.
Email this submission form to reception@oldcastlelabs.ie 24 hours before sample receipt to the lab.
Disclaimer
No biological test is 100% accurate. If an inaccurate result is suspected, the animal should be isolated and re-tested.
All designated laboratories are independently accredited for BVD testing and the test methods used (ELISA or RT-PCR) will, in the great majority of cases,
accurately detect the presence or absence of virus in tissue and blood samples when submitted and tested correctly. However, results relate only to the sample
as received by the laboratory and, whilst laboratories warrant that their tests will meet their applicable declared specifications, the laboratories make no other
warranty, expressed or implied and accept no responsibility or liability in respect of false results which are within the limits of the declared specifications of the
tests offered. No representation or warranty is given by AHI, ICBF, the Technical Working Group, the Implementation Group or any member, employee or other
person connected with any of the foregoing bodies as to the accuracy of any BVD test methods or test results. Neither AHI, ICBF, the Technical Working Group,
the Implementation Group nor any member, employee or other person connected with any of the foregoing bodies shall have any liability or responsibility in
respect of any laboratory or the accuracy of any test methods, test results or reports produced by any laboratory.
We are Your Local laboratory and are designated for the National BVD Eradication Programme
Milk Testing Available: Butterfat Content ● Protein ● Full Milk Profile ● Somatic Cell Count ● Total Bacteria Count
Warts can occur anywhere on the body but are most commonly seen in the head and neck area. Less common but often more important sites include teats and scrotum. Warts vary greatly in shape from almost flat pea-sized lumps to large orange-sized balls on stalks. Cattle are usually otherwise healthy; there are normally no systemic effects. Oldcastle Laboratories can manufacture a wart adjuvanted antiserum specific to your herd which provides effective control, in many cases against viral papillomatosis in cattle.
Results of soil analysis are only as good as the sample on which they are based. A sample must be representative of the area sampled.
Take twenty cores while walking in a ‘W’ pattern across the sampling area of two to four hectares. Cores should be taken to a depth of approx ten centimetres.
Current Soil Sampling Schemes
At Oldcastle Laboratories we offer a complete range of water tests to ensure the safety of your drinking water.
The European Communities Regulations, 1998 (Quality of Water intended for human consumption) state that water is safe to drink if it is under the Maximum Admissible Concentrations (MAC) for all chemical parameters as well as being negative for Bacterial contamination. We include MAC values on our results so you can clearly see the suitability of your water for drinking. Our staff can advise on the most relevant tests for your situation and we offer a collection service should you need one.
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle that can be transmitted as easily as the common cold. It can be spread directly by infected animals, or indirectly via contaminated faeces, equipment etc. The disease is estimated to cost the Irish cattle industry €102 million annually. From 1st January 2013 a compulsory BVD eradication scheme has been operational in Ireland. Operated by Animal Health Ireland (AHI), the scheme will run for 3 years on all Irish farms with a monitoring programme in place for a time thereafter. Oldcastle Laboratories is one of the laboratories designated by AHI to carry out testing as part of the scheme.
Feed costs represent the largest annual operating cost for most commercial farming enterprises. In order to maintain an optimum balance between feed costs and production, feeds must be analyzed and these results used to formulate rations and (or) supplements. Feedstuffs vary widely in nutrient concentration due to location, harvest date (maturity), year, and other management practices.
While a well-structured worming programme may control the parasitological burden on many farms, there is no doubt that faecal parasitology monitoring can greatly improve the effectiveness of such programmes. Information gathered from testing can be used to assess the effectiveness of your programme, identify the range of parasites on your farm and suggest important tweaks that might make your programme more effective – perhaps even using less drench at the same time.
