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Four new farms have been identified with cattle carrying the disease Mycoplasma bovis in New Zealand, with the disease spreading to the North Ireland.
It is a bacterial disease and poses a risk to humans. It presents no food safety risk.
One of the latest infected properties is in the Hastings district on the North Island and the other three are within a farming enterprise in Winton. Another property in Ashburton is suspected of carrying it.
The Ministry of Primary Industry’s (MPI) director of response Geoff Gwyn says early indications are that all the properties have links with the Van Leeuwen Dairy Group (VLDG) through cattle movements.
“The Hastings and Ashburton properties were identified through our tracing programme and the Winton property was identified through the industry milk testing programme,” said Gwyn.
This effectively places them in quarantine lockdown – restricting the movement of animals and other risk goods on and off the farm.
“All of the movements we have been tracing are prior to 21 July, when the disease was first detected and notified to MPI.
“The Hastings and Winton properties are now under a restricted place notice under the biosecurity act.”
“This effectively places them in quarantine lockdown – restricting the movement of animals and other risk goods on and off the farm.”
“The suspect property is under voluntary movement controls until their status is confirmed. MPI is working closely with them.”
Gwyn says these new developments are not good news.
“We’re still analysing what this means for the wider response. We’re dealing with a lot of uncertainty. Our investigators are building a picture of stock movements on to and off these farms, so we will not be making hasty decisions on next steps.
“While it’s really disappointing to have these new properties, it is not totally unexpected. We know that this disease is spread through contact between animals and through the movement of stock – as is the case here.
“It was always possible further infected properties would be found; buying, selling and moving stock is a common practice in farming.
“A key part of our response has been identifying and investigating animals that have moved to or from affected properties before Mycoplasma bovis was first detected. This tracing is complex detective work which takes time.
Some cattle may be infected and never show signs of the disease.
“I know an obvious question people will have is why has it taken this long to find these properties. The answer to that lies with the nature of this particular bacteria.
“It is a tricky thing to find and often hides within an animal, lying dormant and not revealing itself for weeks or months. Some cattle may be infected and never show signs of the disease.
“This is why we test multiple times using multiple kinds of tests. Sometimes to confirm the disease we have to test organ tissue from animals at slaughter, as was the case in Hastings.”
Gwyn said the depopulation programme is almost complete on the infected Van Leeuwen properties and is on track to be completed before Christmas. To date, over 3,500 animals have been culled.
“Our extensive testing and tracing work also continues. So far, the MPI lab has completed over 55,000 tests and our investigators have followed up 250 properties around the country.
“This is a really tough time for all the affected farmers who find themselves in this situation through no fault of their own.”
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