‘It was the only way forward,’ says the Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, on the decision to slaughter more than 22,000 cows with M. bovis. 

The VetSouth veterinary practice at Winton, Southland is still coming across clients unaware of the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis, says director and vet Mark Bryan.

Opposition primary industries spokesman Nathan Guy is welcoming the decision to cull cattle infected with the Mycoplasma bovis disease.

Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has searched three locations as part of an investigation associated with the Mycoplasma bovis response.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) will begin a cull of 22,332 cattle on all properties infected with Mycoplasma bovis after scientific testing and tracing confirmed the disease was not endemic.

The National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) system has provided the MPI investigators dealing with the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak nearly 1000 reports since the disease was identified last July.

Good farm records have helped to relieve a South Island farming business of some of the effects of getting through a Mycoplasma bovis infection, reports FarmIQ Systems Ltd, a software company.

Farmers who cull animals infected with Mycoplasma bovis without being ordered to by MPI are doing the right thing, says Federated Farmers.

Jersey breeder Peter Hansen believes MPI has reneged on compensating him for its ban on his planned one-off importation of breeding cows from Australia because of the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak.

The opposition National Party is putting pressure on the Government to come clear on the future of cow disease, Mycoplasma bovis.