And on top of that are increased antibiotic use, animal welfare issues and having to make fundamental changes to how freely we can move cattle to grass, limiting our potential industry growth.
It has not been an easy fight but it’s one we are winning.
The independent Technical Advisory Group says eradication is feasible.
We are testing more farms and finding fewer cases. More than 93% of farms put under restrictions because of a risk of infection are found to be clear of disease. On average it is taking fewer than five days to put farms under restrictions when risk is identified.
The Bulk Tank Milk Surveillance programme shows us the disease is not widespread and we are finding infected farms. On average only nine farms a month are now having a detect result on this screening test and 97% are found to not be infected after on-farm testing.
We have also begun testing a random selection of beef farms, alongside Tb testing, to assure us the disease is not established in the beef breeding herd.
The compensation process, which was taking too long in some cases, has been greatly improved.
It’s more agile, has more expert advice from industry and is getting payments done quicker. More than $127 million has now been paid out in compensation and 90% of claims lodged have been processed.
Part of the reason the programme is starting to see success has been the partnership between the Ministry for Primary Industries and its industry partners DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb.
They have developed meaningful ways to work together in the field and to govern and lead the programme from the boardroom.
Farmers are contributing 32% of the total cost of the eradication effort, including compensation, and the industry groups have made substantial contributions in time and resources to the programme’s operations.
Having the industry and farmers at the table has fundamentally improved the effort and has shown us the way forward for future biosecurity incursions.
While we are still working to halt the spread of the disease and cannot ease our efforts now we are also making sure we can reach the next phase, which is running a long-term surveillance programme to give us confidence we have achieved freedom from disease.
That is likely to involve ongoing bulk tank milk testing and testing at slaughter and on-farm testing of beef stock.
With weaner sales starting and Moving Day not far away all cattle farmers need to focus on making sure they are completely Nait compliant.
Accurate Nait records are our greatest weapon against the spread of M bovis and we are still seeing far too many farmers failing to comply.
The dedicated Nait compliance team at MPI is cracking down and issuing infringements and taking prosecutions against the most serious offenders.
It is your responsibility to make sure you meet your Nait obligations – tag every animal, register the tag against it in the system and record every movement – no excuses.
The impact on the farmers affected by M bovis and the steps required to eradicate it cannot be understated.
We will continue to do everything we can to support them – to get decisions made quickly and on the ground, to get compensation paid quickly and to get farms and farmers back to farming free from this disease.
I want to thank every farmer who has worked through the hardship of M bovis for their efforts to get through such a challenging period and get back for farming.
Who am I?
Damien O’Connor is Biosecurity, Food Safety, Rural Communities and Agriculture Minister and Minister of State for Export Trade and Growth.
