Help available for flood-hit farmers
The chair of the Otago Rural Support Trust, Tom Pinckney, says he believes that they will be especially busy in the coming months as the enormity of the floods hit home.
With ‘Moving Day’ just around the corner, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is reminding farmers to review their biosecurity practices while moving their animals.
Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) eradication programme director Simon Andrew says good planning and communication can help ensure a smooth Moving Day.
“Thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of farmers and the wider agricultural sector, we have made good progress toward eradicating M. bovis since it was first detected in New Zealand in 2017. We are now aiming to move from delimiting – controlling the last known pockets of M. bovis – to gathering negative test result data to support a statement of provisional absence of M. bovis.”
Andrew says good biosecurity practices remain essential to fighting M. Bovis.
“If left unchecked, the disease could have cost industry an estimated $1.2 billion over the first 10 years, with ongoing productivity losses across the farming sector and animal welfare concerns,” he says.
Andrew says as well as taking steps to stay infection-free, farmers must record all movements in the National Animal Identification Tracing (NAIT) system.
“The main way M. bovis spreads is when infected cattle are introduced into, or have close and ongoing contact with, an uninfected herd. Likewise, when the disease is detected, the rapid detection of infected herds is critical.”
Keeping up NAIT requirements of tagging, registering, and recording the movements of stock is important but equally important is to do the same for all incoming cattle.
As well as NAIT, farmers should consider other steps to stay infection free. MPI is advising farmers talk with veterinarians, DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb New Zealand about ways to reduce the risk of M. bovis and build those into biosecurity plans and animal health plans.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will be fronting farmers at three large public meetings organised by Federated Farmers over the coming weeks.
Federated Farmers and a major Australian-owned bank are at loggerheads over emissions reduction targets set for New Zealand farmer clients.
More locally grown tomatoes are coming to stores this month and you can thank New Zealand greenhouses for that.
Changing skill demands and new job opportunities in the primary sector have prompted Massey University to create a new degree course and add a significant major into another in 2025.
It was bringing in a new Canterbury A&P Association (CAPA) show board, more in tune with the CAPA general committee, that has ensured that Christchurch will have a show this year, says CAPA general committee president Bryce Murray.
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