increase font size
Nathan Guy.
Opposition primary industries spokesman Nathan Guy is welcoming the decision to cull cattle infected with the Mycoplasma bovis disease.
He says this will bring some welcome relief to affected farmers but questions whether the Government is fully committed to eradication.
“Yesterday the Minister, Damien O’Connor, told Parliament that Cabinet is still to decide if eradication is possible – or if it’s even economically viable – which is nothing but a ‘get out of jail free’ card so the Government doesn’t have to commit to any further funding,” says Guy.
Guy says the $85 million package - that includes $11 million from industry - will go some way toward culling the 22 herds.
But it’s also needed to cover ongoing operational costs, including some feed and compensation costs.
“While this gives certainty to those individual farmers, this is going to be a stressful time as they see their animals trucked off for slaughter, and I feel for them.
“Many will have spent a lifetime investing in the best animal genetics and also have a stand down period before they can purchase replacement stock and get back farming again.
“I acknowledge the work of the Rural Support Trust and banks, who will play a very important role in supporting these farmers through this soul-destroying period.”
Guy wants the Government to be fair and fast with future compensation claims.
“I’m also calling on the Minister to release the tracing report that is currently sitting on his desk. My pick is that it will be inconclusive as to how Micoplasma bovis got here – tracing the origins of this disease will be a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” Guy says.
Former Minister for Primary Industries, and retiring MP, Nathan Guy says his plans to invest more than $2 million in a new innovative dairy shed is a vote of confidence in the future of the dairy industry.
A disease equally infectious to Mycoplasma bovis and Covid-19 is threatening farm profitability and livestock health.
A small, Auckland research firm is developing a more sensitive test for Mycoplasma bovis.
Hawke's Bay vet Richard Hilson says the effects of the lockdown with COVID-19 tended to isolate farmers more than people might have imagined.
The government’s new freshwater laws, signed off this week, have the potential to create significant unnecessary costs for ratepayers, farmers and entire communities, Federated Farmers says.
Final harvest data for wheat, barley and oats (milling/malting and feed) in 2020 show yields were up 17% overall across the six crops.
DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle says the joint decision three years ago to eradicate Mycoplamsa bovis was a difficult call.
Cutting edge technology designed to simulate biosecurity threats has emerged from the collaboration of two Hamilton companies.
DeLaval has come away with the runner up prize in this year’s Fieldays Online innovation competition with a new milking cluster that eliminates the need for conventional liner changes.
Thomas Lundman's work focus has gone from tracking tiny critters in pitch black caves to looking after considerably larger animals in paddocks near Whakatane.
There could be another dairy health scare brewing in China and this one starts in our backyard.
Does anyone in the Government understand the essential role St John Ambulance has in our society?
