Farmers urged to plan for Omicron

Will Halliday of Beef+Lamb NZ is part of a pan-primary sector group - which include DairyNZ, MPI, the deer and pork industries and Federated Farmers - that have been preparing advice for farmers to deal with this contingency.

All of these organisations have advice on their respective websites aimed at making it easy for those in the primary sector to plan for such an outbreak.

There are also copies of this information in vet clinics and rural supply stores.

"It's all about how to keep you and your farm safe from Covid and, if by chance, you or someone on your farm tests positive and has to go to hospital or into isolation, having a written and readily available plan to get through this period."

Halliday says it's a matter of having that plan in place before something happens. He says it's a case of having an arrangement with someone or a number of people who might be able to help and having a check list and detailed plan of what to do on the farm to keep it running.

Halliday says the last thing anyone wants to happen is for a farmer to get infected and for this to spread up the supply chain. He says this could cause major disruptions with transport and processing plants and put others in the community at risk.

"Animal welfare on farm is also a major issue," he adds.

Halliday says on the one hand many sheep and beef farmers have the advantage of livinf in isolated areas, but they still have to have interactions with contractors and others in the rural community. He says BLNZ recommends that farmers get vaccinated and adds that any staff from his organisation who are interacting with farmers are all fully vaccinated.