Saturday, March 30, 2024

Disease poses no risk in the north

Avatar photo
Northland cattle farmers were reassured Mycoplasma bovis poses no risk to a well-run farm, Federated Farmers provincial president John Blackwell says. Ministry for Primary Industries officials briefed about 120 farmers in Dargaville last week following the province’s first confirmed disease find.
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Blackwell said MPI said M bovis has not moved across farm boundaries, the confirmed means of transmission being cattle movements, suckling or animal-to-animal contacts.

“To me that says we have to be vigilant and have good farm biosecurity.

“Most North Island cases have been traced back to movements of Friesian bulls.”

Kaipara District Mayor and Hereford breeder Jason Smith, who moderated the meeting, said MPI provided reassurance about new testing methods, the large numbers of staff involved and the degree of containment already achieved in the eradication effort.

“The shadow of the risk (of spread) has got smaller since we first heard from MPI here in Northland back in June.”

Dargaville veterinarian Brian Lowe said the infected farm was east of the town in Kaipara District and the outbreak was traced back to 50 Friesian bulls bought from Waikato but born in Canterbury.

The farm had been quarantined, those animals would be culled and there could be no off-farm transfer of the disease.

“Farmers took comfort from what they heard and there is much less to be concerned about now,” Smith’s said.

MPI had maintained its stance against disclosing where the farm was and who was affected, which became less of an issue to people who attended as the meeting went on.

Blackwell said the onus is on farmers to discharge their Nait obligations and not take risks such as buying cattle from outside Northland or taking penicillin milk from a dairy farm to a beef farm to feed calves.

“Although its has been a shock to get one infected property in the north it is good we have a low number of properties under assessment or notice of direction.”

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading