Ready to walk the talk
DairyNZ's Kirsty Verhoek ‘walks the talk’, balancing her interests in animal welfare, agricultural science and innovative dairy farming.
DairyNZ chair Jim van der Poel notes that the spirit of collaboration is a key part of New Zealand’s response to eradicate M. bovis.
“It’s great to see the success of this approach affirmed,” he says.
“Via the NPMP, the partners will continue to support work to protect our national dairy and beef herds. It will ensure that OSPRI, which manages the M. bovis programme – alongside the TB programme and the National Animal Identification Tracing (NAIT) system – has the tools needed to continue to work towards the goal of eradication.”
DairyNZ and B+LNZ are partners in the programme alongside the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). The plan is designed to safeguard results achieved to date and add resilience to the country’s biosecurity system through OSPRI’s management of the M. bovis eradication programme.
Until now, the eradication programme has been the responsibility of the Government Industry Agreement (GIA) partners, MPI, DairyNZ and B+LNZ,
Farmers will see little practical change on the ground under the new plan but there are opportunities for efficiencies in managing bovine TB, M. bovis and the NAIT system in the same entity. The M. bovis programme is now six years into a 10-year eradication plan with currently no active, confirmed properties.
B+LNZ chair Kate Acland notes that the effective response to managing the M. bovis challenge hasn’t been easy but the Government’s announcement marks another significant milestone in the programme.
“Farmers affected by the eradication programme have experienced significant disruption to their business and made sacrifices – we owe it to them to finish the job. The programme partners are committed to supporting OSPRI in finding any remaining infection to protect the wider sector.”
Van der Poel says the programme to eradicate M. bovis took a large financial and emotional toll on farmers but the cost of letting it spread would have been much higher.
“While we may still see a few more cases, we are now approaching the surveillance phase and costs have reduced, thanks to a huge combined effort.”
The National Pest Management Plan, approved by the Coalition Government, was proposed by DairyNZ, B+LNZ and MPI and will come into effect by the end of 2024.
OSPRI has been carrying out M. bovis disease control and on-farm operations under contract since November 2023.
