Ashburton centre of outbreak

Mid-Canterbury has taken the biggest hit from cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis, with the district accounting for 41 per cent of all cases.

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) figures show that 67 of 161 properties confirmed positive with the disease were in the region. Of these, 23 properties remain contaminated and 44 have been cleared.

The ministry’s M. bovis programme director Geoff Gwyn told farmers in Ashburton that the region was ‘‘carrying a disproportionate share of the burden’’ in its efforts to eradicate the disease. Nationally 93,000 animals have been culled. Of the $57 million paid in compensation, about half had gone to Canterbury farmers.

The ministry had an almost $1 billion budget, 370 staff, three laboratories and regional offices in Hamilton, Christchurch, Oamaru and Invercargill in a bid to eradicate the disease.

‘‘That money could be spent on hip operations and new teachers, so I want all New Zealanders to understand what we are doing and support it,’’ Gwyn said.

The obvious cases had been detected, he said. Geoff Gwyn, Ministry for Primary Industries M. bovis programme director

‘‘It’s like a kid dropping a bag of marbles. We have picked up the easy ones, lifted the furniture and are now looking behind the fridge.’’

Spring bulk milk testing indicated that M. bovis was not endemic and the ministry was considering what type of surveillance was required to declare freedom from the disease in five to seven years.

As New Zealand had an open cattle farming system, with a lot of animal movements between farms, it would be more severely affected by the disease than countries with closed herds, Gwyn said.

In a phased eradication, the Government was attempting to rid the country of the bacterial disease which can cause untreatable mastitis, abortion and arthritis in cows.

The disease is harmless to humans and is not transmitted through meat or milk. MidCanterbury Federated Farmers

president Michael Salvesen said that providing more ministry staff to assist farmers affected by M. bovis ‘‘didn’t necessary solve the problem, if they are not doing the right things’’.

Culling all livestock on a farm had big ramifications and individual farmers responded differently to this.

‘‘Just saying that Rural Support will deal with this is rather naive’’.

‘‘MPI are better than they were, but that is not to say they are doing everything right,’’ Salvesen said. ‘‘Every case is different. Big farms, small farms and lifestyle block holders have all been caught up in it.’’

Some farmers had been caught through no fault of their own in a nightmare situation. For example, a sharemilker’s only asset was their cows and these were used as security for loans. ‘‘If their cows are culled, then the security is the promise of compensation. Unless banks are prepared to support them, they are technically bankrupt.’’

The movement of calves, rather than cows, was the reason MidCanterbury had been hit hardest by M. bovis, even though the ministry believed the disease originated from a Southland farm, Salvesen said.

‘‘Almost all beef farms that have been infected have got stock from dairy farms.’’

Ashburton farmer advocate Angela Cushnie, a member of the M. bovis Affected Farmers support group, said the number one stressor keeping farmers awake at night was MPI’s management of ‘‘trace’’ animals, stock from an infected property that had moved to another farm.

‘‘This response goes to the heart of achieving a successful eradication.’’

The group had an example of a M. bovis-confirmed property, where the cows had been culled, and four months later farmers that had earlier bought animals from the farm had still not been officially notified by the ministry MPI.

In another situation, a farmer had been waiting to hear from the ministry since early March about animals he had bought last year from a now confirmed property.

‘‘It’s like a kid dropping a bag of marbles. We’ve picked up the easy ones, lifted the furniture and are now looking behind the fridge.’’