Unsung heroes under the soil
Much of the scientific work being carried out at the Massey University led regenerative agriculture project, Whenua Haumanu, is below the ground.
Across the country, veterinarians provide valuable technical expertise and are recognised as trusted advisors on a range of issues, including animal health and welfare, disease surveillance and investigation, and playing a key role in our biosecurity system.
A debt of gratitude is owed to the private veterinarian, who first identified Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) in New Zealand in 2017. Since those early and often difficult days, private veterinarians have made a significant contribution in identifying the index case and reporting cases of suspected disease, as well as undertaking on-farm testing and supporting their clients who have been affected by the eradication programme.
If left unchecked, M. bovis could have cost the industry an estimated $1.2 billion over the first 10 years, with ongoing productivity losses across the farming sector and animal welfare concerns. As we near the halfway mark of our estimated 10-year eradication programme, we are aiming to move from controlling the last known pockets of the disease to provisional absence. We are on track to become the first country to eradicate M. bovis.
As MPI’s chief veterinary officer, an important part of my role is to identify ways to build relationships that bind our animal health community together to enable successful biosecurity partnerships. MPI is New Zealand’s largest employer of veterinarians with 300 working in five of the nine business units, across all regions, including overseas postings.
The work extends beyond MPI and requires collaboration between private practitioners, industry representatives, and the public veterinary service. An example of such collaboration is through MPI’s Animal General Surveillance Programme, which enables the early detection of exotic and emerging diseases.
This programme relies on private veterinarians reporting them. They’re on the ground and function as our first line of defence. This collaboration is valuable for private veterinarians and their clients dealing with difficult and potentially highrisk cases. For the public veterinarians, the value is in how the partnership supports surveillance to ensure the health of New Zealand’s animal populations.
As events such as M. bovis have shown, it’s essential that public and private veterinarians and industry have relationships in place to ensure that New Zealand’s animal health system serves the country’s dayto- day needs. As well as being ready for the challenges that may emerge in the future.
Veterinarians are also involved in emerging multidisciplinary work, such as One Health, which brings together experts from the fields of animal, human and environmental health to address some of society’s greatest health challenges, including infectious zoonoses like Covid-19 and antimicrobial resistance.
The outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Indonesia serves as a reminder that we need to have strong biosecurity measures in place both at the border and on farm. Covid-19 and M. bovis have illustrated that as a country we are in a unique position to achieve ambitious goals on major health and animal welfare issues, but working together is the only way we can do this.
We must invest in strong relationships and connectedness today, to be able to face the challenges of the future.
Dr Mary van Andel is the chief veterinary officer at the Ministry for Primary Industries.
