increase font size
Calf club organisers must take extra biosecurity steps this spring to avoid the spread of Mycoplasma bovis, says MPI.
The ministry has created a poster and a teacher pack with basic biosecurity tips, to help keep calves healthy on the day. Packs have been mailed to 1000 rural schools.
They tell how to transport and hold calves (separate pens, at least 2m apart, own water and food), being registered with NAIT, and ensuring a safe environment for calves and people.
Bringing together animals from different herds poses a relatively low risk of disease spread, but precautions minimise the hazard risks.
“Calf club is part of rural life,” says MPI. “But in the wake of the M. bovis outbreak, some events have not gone ahead.
“MPI is supporting clubs to ensure good biosecurity, so that risks are minimised and calf club is fun for everyone.”
Keeping calves separate is the key, as M. bovis is mainly spread via long nose-to-nose contact. Holding pens are the best way to keep individual calves separate from each other.
Calves should not share milk.
Calves from different herds or farms should be transported to and from calf club separately, and kept separate at all times.
If calves are sick they should stay on the farm.
To help reduce contact between calves while they’re parading, calves should wear a halter at all times.
MPI says someone must supervise calves while they’re being led around, to control them and keep them apart.
Full NAIT compliance is also essential -- keeping complete and accurate NAIT records. This means all calves attending calf club must have a readable NAIT ear tag.
MPI says it has seen no evidence that M. bovis survives for long once exposed to air and UV light, so the risk is low of it spreading via effluent.
But in the interests of general hygiene and biosecurity it’s a good idea to lay down straw to collect effluent.
“Regularly remove faeces from the ground. Use hand sanitiser to minimise risks of transmitting.”
The recent East Coast Farming Expo, held over two days at Wairoa, offered an insight into the current state of agriculture on the east of the North Island, at a time when the locals are remembering the second anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle.
OPINION: At last, a serious effort to better connect farmers and scientists.
An initiative by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to connect farmers with scientists is taking off judging by the response at recent regional field days.
Scientists from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) are part of an international team working to develop a low-cost diagnostic tool that could significantly improve food crop production in developing countries.
A company growing and processing seaweed with known methane-busting properties at a facility in Bluff is expanding internationally but New Zealand cattle farmers won't be getting the product anytime soon.
Federated Farmers supports a review of the current genetic technology legislation but insists that a farmer’s right to either choose or reject it must be protected.
New Zealand’s top business leaders are urging the US Administration to review “unjustified and discriminatory tariffs” imposed on Kiwi exporters.
New tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump signal an uncertain future, but New Zealand farmers know how to adapt to changing conditions, says Auriga Martin, chief executive of Farm Focus.
A global trade war beckons, which is bad news for a small open economy like New Zealand, warns Mark Smith ASB senior economist.
Carterton's Awakare Farm has long stood as a place where family, tradition and innovation intersect.
Fonterra says the US continues to be an important market for New Zealand dairy and the co-op.
OPINION: Is it the beginning of the end for Greenpeace?
OPINION: The good times felt across the dairy sector weren't lost at last week's Beef + Lamb NZ annual meeting.
