Call for better records by expert first to ID disease
Richard Laven was in his office at Massey University in June last year when a South Island veterinarian called him, asking for advice on sick cows.
The cows had just calved and the veterinarian told the associate professor of animal health that they were suffering from mastitis and lameness and not responding to treatment. Laven told the veterinarian it was the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis and advised they must ring the Ministry for Primary Industries.
That diagnosis over the telephone helped lead to the final confirmation three to four weeks later that the disease was in New Zealand on the van Leeuwen Dairy Group’s farms in North Otago. Since then it has spread to 25 farms including 11 properties in South Canterbury/North Otago, two in Mid Canterbury/ Ashburton, nine in Southland, and one each in Hawke’s Bay, Rangiora and Otago. M. bovis is a bacterial disease which causes mastitis, abortion, pneumonia, and arthritis in cattle. Laven said his background working in the United Kingdom where the disease was widespread among cattle helped him recognise the pattern for the disease. He was optimistic it could be eradicated, but better on-farm biosecurity was required and compliance with the National Animal Identification and Tracing (Nait) scheme. ‘‘That’s how it’s spread, people buying animals and not necessarily knowing where they have come from.’’ The scheme was fine when used properly, but during the M. bovis outbreak, MPI had to rely on farmer recollection. It took two months of interviewing and following up something that should have just been available at a press of a button, he said.
‘‘In general, the infected farms have not covered themselves in glory in terms of making sure they follow Nait. The problem is that there are too many cows moving around that nobody knows.’’