Following discussions between the Animal Health Trust, the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association and Weatherbys the decision has been taken to move the processing of all British Thoroughbred DNA samples to Weatherbys Scientific’s laboratory in Ireland for the remainder of the 2020 breeding season.
This will take effect from the 23rd April and all blood samples will need to be posted to the address below. Should any samples be received at the Animal Health Trust Laboratory after this date they will be forwarded to Weatherbys Wellingborough office. Similarly, any samples already at the Animal Health Trust Laboratory but not yet processed will also be forwarded to Weatherbys.
DNA Fulfilment Team,
Weatherbys,
Sanders Road,
Wellingborough,
Northants NN8 4BX.
Weatherbys will be sending redirection labels to veterinary practices and the receipt of samples will be logged before being couriered to the Weatherbys Scientific Laboratory.
In order to be able log receipt of a sample at Weatherbys we will require a microchip barcode label to be stuck to the outside of the envelope in which the sample is posted. This is in addition to the labels affixed to the blood tube and the markings form.
By way of some background - Weatherbys Scientific Laboratory has provided animal parentage testing services since 1985. In 1998, the laboratory introduced DNA technology which superseded blood-typing and provided further opportunities to confirm pedigrees of other animal species such as cattle, sheep, dogs and cats. The Laboratory now completes over 50,000 parentage verification tests per annum across the equine, bovine, canine and ovine species. This includes all Irish bred Thoroughbreds.
Weatherbys Scientific is recognised by the International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG) as one of the leading laboratories in the world in pedigree verification and currently holds ISAG Rank One status in equine, bovine, canine and dromedary species.
A senior member of the laboratory team is currently co-chair of the ISAG Cattle Molecular Marker and Parentage Testing Standing Committee, a member of the Equine Genetics and Thoroughbred Parentage Testing and Standardisation Committee and the Animal Forensics Committee.
The laboratory is accredited under the ISO17025:2005 standard for SNP array bovine genotyping and audited annually by the accreditation body INAB in order to maintain ISO 17025 accreditation.
Weatherbys Scientific also participates in research projects for conservation programmes of rare breeds (horses, cattle and goats).
For more information about Weatherbys Scientific please visit www.weatherbysscientific.com.
Should you have any questions relating to these new arrangements please do not hesitate to contact:
Weatherbys Stud Book Director, Simon Cooper - scooper@weatherbys.co.uk
or Assistant Head of Horse Registry Sam Hyman – shyman@weatherbys.co.uk