Cost of Mbovis unknown
An estimated 10,346 cattle have been slaughtered in Southland but the true cost of Mycoplasma bovis on the region is yet to be counted.
An MPI spokesman said they could not provide the number of cattle expected to be culled as there was still a lot of planning to do around the national eradication programme announced by the Government on Monday.
As of Tuesday, there were 22 properties under Restricted Place Notices, 13 of which were infected properties in Southland. The slaughtered cattle to date had come off 14 farms in the south.
Notices of Direction have been issued to 18 properties restricting farmers from moving cattle unless authorised by a permit.
Lincoln University associate professor in finance Dr Sazali Abidin said in a worst case scenario, Mycoplasma bovis had the potential to be the most severe economic biosecurity issue to hit New Zealand.
At $886 million over 10 years, the financial impact of the eradication would be more than twice as bad as the PSA bacteria, which hit the kiwifruit industry in 2010 when a group of 212 growers and post-harvest operators claimed $376.4m, Abidin said.
‘‘The cost of eradication of Mycoplasma bovis is far greater than the aggregate of all the biosecurity eradication programmes undertaken by the Ministry for Primary Industries from 1999 till today.’’
There would be no significant impact on milk production, cost of milk, and price of milk.
Since the ministry became aware of the disease on July 21 last year, 26,000 cows from 28 infected properties have been culled or ordered to be culled.
The Government estimates a further 126,000 might be sent to the freezing works.
‘‘Even if this happens and a total of 152,000 cows must be culled, this is only 3.4 per cent of the estimated 4.5 million milking cows throughout the country.’’
About 1.02 million or 22 per cent of the cows were culled every year and replaced by the farmers, Abidin said.
If New Zealand had an outbreak of foot and mouth disease it would have much more of an impact on the primary industries and the economy, he said.
In 2015, the ministry looked at what it would cost if foot and mouth disease hit the country.
On the assumption that New Zealand was hit by a small to medium outbreak, the export losses were estimated at $14.4 billion, Abidin said.
In addition, the Government would have to spend an estimated $1.17b on eradication and the livestock compensation for infected properties was estimated to cost $30.8m.
Unlike the foot and mouth disease, the meat and milk from animals affected with Mycoplasma bovis was safe for
‘‘Farmers certainly want to see the disease eradicated.’’
human consumption, Abidin said.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand financial stability report for May says the spread of the disease is an emerging risk and had the potential to negatively impact the productivity and profitability of the dairy sector, and may lead to losses for banks.
Federated Farmers Southland president Geoffrey Young said cattle traders were finding it tough to shift stock north with the stigma of Mycoplasma bovis hanging over Southland.
Like when a stone was thrown into a pond, each infected property that was identified created a ripple effect for surrounding farms, Young said. ‘‘If farmers aren’t making a profit they’re certainly going to curtail spending.’’
Some farmers were already under financial pressure because they were not able to sell cattle, and some would need to spend more on extra winter feed.
The Government’s decision to eradicate was the right decision, Young said. ‘‘... farmers certainly want to see the disease eradicated.’’
The eradication plan would cause some stress and anxiety among farmers, but most of that stress would be for farmers awaiting test results, he said.
Southland meat processing cooperative Alliance Group general manager manufacturing Willie Wiese said prior to announcement of a phased eradication programme, the plant at Mataura had been processing cattle from properties under ‘‘movement control’’ for Mycoplasma bovis.
‘‘We are now in discussions with the Ministry for Primary Industries about the processing requirements for the phased eradication programme, so it is too early to comment on what capacity is needed for this task.’’