Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) chief science advisor John Roche says MPI has been involved with managing the M bovis-infected feedlot for several months after it was detected as active with the cattle disease and notified as a Restricted Place.
Five Star Beef has been operating in the Ashburton District for 30 years, supplying beef to the Japanese market and locally under the brand Wakanui Beef.
Majority owned by Japanese, it is New Zealand’s only large-scale commercial feedlot.
Clearance of the feedlot has been on hold, given it is deemed low risk of spreading M bovis and pending MPI satisfaction that once depopulated it would not be reinfected.
“We are aware there is concern that Five Star is a risk, but we have always said it is low-risk; all science will say that is the case and simply too, because of its means of operation, risk is really, really low,” Roche said.
“We could not depopulate the feedlot until we know we have cleared all other farms of infection in Canterbury.”
And that time is expected to happen before the end of the year.
“We did the big push with the spring Bulk Tank Milk (BTM) testing and we now have only 10 positive farms,” he said.
One of these 10 was issued with a Restricted Place Notice just last week.
“We always anticipated this, we always said with the high prevalence of 2018-born heifers coming into milking herds, that there would be more picked up in blood testing as a result of the BTM testing, so this is not surprising,” he said.
“What is encouraging is we had 28 infected properties this time last year and we are on track for finishing the delimiting phase in 2021 – sometime.
“We need one more big push now and as numbers continue to drop, we can look at depopulating Five Star.
“They are not a risk, it’s why we have left it to last.”
That has also allowed the M bovis programme to work closely with Five Star in the response as part of the surveillance strategy in the beef sector.
“We are talking several thousands of cattle here from several hundred farms and in that respect, Five Star has been of significant help,” he said.
“They have been with us every step of the way.”
But the country cannot be declared free of the disease until Five Star is depopulated.
Roche is now tasked with coming up with a plan for the feedlot depopulation.
At its peak, the feedlot houses 18,000 cattle.
“It will be some time away, but we are looking at how we can do it and I will be seeking advice from international experts, including feedlots,” he said.
Roche has completed the terms of reference for this review plan and it is now before the M bovis governance group for consideration.
A report for the plan is expected before the end of May.
Despite suggestions that the clearance of the feedlot could cost $40 million, Roche says he has no figure on the cost and any speculation at this stage is premature.
In the meantime, the Canterbury cluster of 10 infected properties, including Lincoln University’s two research farms and Five Star, are the focus of “the one final push”.
And there are encouraging signs.
“All of them are the one genetic clade, which confirms all are one group and we are closely running that down,” he said.
Of the 10 Canterbury properties, five were picked up in BTM testing and the others, including Lincoln and Five Star, have traced back from these.
He says with the response having worked with three other genetic clades, and the last of these being in Waikato in July last year, it is encouraging results.
“On the same lines as covid is being managed, we are exactly the same in the M bovis programme,” he said.
“It’s looking like we just need to get this Canterbury cluster cleared now and like covid, once you get to really low prevalence we go harder and we will leave no stone unturned.”
Of the total 261 overall confirmed properties, 50% have been in the Canterbury region.
As of February 25, there are 10 active properties, 35 under restricted movement controls (NODs) and 114 under active surveillance.
