MANY colleagues will already be aware that evidence has emerged that a small number of farmers may have been illegally swapping cattle ear tags in order to retain highly productive TB reactors. As a result Defra Minister Jim Paice announced last week that from mid-April in England DNA tags will be inserted by Official Veterinarians (OVs) into the ears of cattle that test positive for TB at the time of disclosure. Although these arrangements will not apply in Scotland, there will of course be implications for members with clients that have cattle in England. At the time …