The spread of at-risk properties shows precautions must be taken for cattle movements in all dairying regions of the country, DairyNZ extension general manager Andrew Reid said.
About 3000 of the nation’s 12,000 dairy farms have sharemilkers and the standard contract length is three years.
Therefore up to 1000 herds could move at the end of the season though more likely several hundred will move on June 1, Reid said.
It will not be until relocated herds start supplying milk to their preferred processors, mainly after calving, that the authorities will know how many moved.
The prospect of a third season of $6-plus milk price, of which sharemilkers get up to half, might have prompted a larger number of contract changes and herd movements.
The opposite was shown to be true during poor payout years with fewer relocations for sharemilkers and herd managers.
The main precautions to take because of M bovis include avoiding cattle contacts, especially over boundary fences along droving routes, the cleaning of stock trucks and all transferred machinery, the viewing of bulk milk test results and any control and surveillance notices.
They would be in addition to the standard Nait animal movement recording and the usual animal health questions by farm owners of sharemilkers and vice versa.
“Farmers need to be aware of things they might have taken for granted in the past,” Reid said.
“Carrying on as we have always done is no longer an option in the M bovis climate.
“It is going to take longer to do the things necessary to mitigate the risk.
“M bovis is largely spread through nose-to-nose cow contact so farmers need to know what they can do to protect themselves and not rely on others.”
Among the suggestions on the DairyNZ M bovis web page are requests to dairy farms en route to leave roadside paddocks vacant or buffered with power fencing and no back-loading of stock trucks while a herd is being moved.
A seven-day quarantine of incoming cattle from those already on a farm is advised.
“Have a really good understanding of where your stock have come from and where they are going to.
“The bulk milk testing results and the Ministry for Primary Industries tracing of cattle movements show that no region of the country is exempted from the need for precautions against the spread of the disease,” Reid said.
MPI said sharemilkers and contract milkers are particularly vulnerable should M bovis get onto a farm.
