M. bovis a big wake-up call

Farmers are now realising, if they didn’t before, that a serious biosecurity threat such as M. bovis highlights the vulnerability of their farming businesses, he says.

The beef and dairy industries are inextricably linked and each depends on the other; the presence of M. bovis is causing big uncertainties in the value chain of the farming sector.

Animals from the dairy industry play an important role in the beef sector and in the same way beef farmers provide winter grazing and bulls for the dairy sector.

“The relationships between the dairy and beef sectors are very strong and very important,” McIvor says.

BLNZ is so concerned about the impact of M. bovis that it has appointed one of its staff to work on the problem full time. 

That person will work with farmers and other agencies, e.g. MPI and the Rural Support Trusts, who are supporting farmers. Another BLNZ staffer is helping MPI at its research facility at Wallaceville, near Wellington.

One issue raised is a lack of farmer compliance with NAIT due to issues they have had with it for some time. A review of system, due out shortly, will hopefully address some of those concerns.

“M.bovis has reinforced the importance of NAIT as a critical tool in animal tracing, as MPI works to understand where the disease came from and where it is going,” McIvor told Rural News. 

“There are examples where MPI has not been able to source stock movements through NAIT. That means it has had to go through other routes to trace those animals and that is a slower process. 

“Every day and every hour is critical when you are dealing with an exotic disease and anything that stops you tracing it quickly is a problem.” 

McIvor says farmers are now calling for better policing and strict compliance with NAIT in order to protect their farm businesses.