Wednesday, 30 August 2017 11:43

Three new properties positive for Mycoplasma bovis

Written by 

The Ministry for Primary Industries’ tracing and testing programme has identified three new properties positive for the bacterial cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis.

“All three properties have links to existing infected properties, and this is an entirely expected pattern at this stage of the response,” MPI Response Coordinator David Yard says.

These latest detections bring the total number of infected farms to six.

“We fully expect to find more infected properties as we continue our tracing and testing programme. These detections are evidence of the programme working, not of unexpected disease spread.” Mr Yard says.

“All detections to date have links to the original infected properties via animal movements and have been caused by close animal contact. What is encouraging is that, despite intensive testing, no adjacent properties have as yet been identified as infected.

“We have no evidence of any means of disease spread other than close animal contact, at this stage. This includes the disease having jumped fences – which our scientists and vets tell us is highly unlikely to occur.”

Two of the newly identified properties are Van Leeuwen Dairy Group farms and were already under Restricted Place notices under the Biosecurity Act.

The third property was a trace farm that had received a small number of calves from the third infected farm confirmed last week. The property is a lifestyle block near Rangiora.

Mr Yard said MPI is continuing with its policy of not naming the affected properties if the owners did not want this.

Full information on hygiene measures and other resources are available at mpi.govt.nz

More like this

Bikinis in cowshed

OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.

Editorial: Agri's mojo is back

OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.

Featured

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

National

Machinery & Products

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Building trust

OPINION: The war of words between Southland farmers and Environment Southland over winter grazing inspections reflects a deep lack of trust…

No Joy

OPINION: Milking It understands a formal disciplinary process is being conducted by Victoria University of Wellington on what one of…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter