PM admits Govt slow on M bovis

Wairarapa farmers Bryce and Julie Stevenson say they were shocked and stressed when the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis was discovered on their property.

They told Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who visited their Masterton farm that their dealings with the Ministry for Primary Industries had added to the stress.

‘‘We found MPI the majority of the time slow and awkward. We lost control of our business,’’ the couple said.

Ardern said there were ‘‘things that had worked and hadn’t worked’’ in the response to the disease which was first detected in New Zealand in July last year.

She singled out the delays in compensation and notices around restricted movements as being issues which had been difficult.

‘‘That [compensation] has been particularly stressful because that’s a wait time, this is people’s livelihoods so we’ve tried to reduce that but now we’re getting into some of the claims that are harder to calculate,’’ Ardern said.

These centred around production losses over milk, or the loss of genetics in livestock.

Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor said from day one when the news arrived of a possible infection on the Stevensons’ farm, they could have received more support.

‘‘We could have had more people from MPI, Rural Support Trust, Beef + Lamb NZ and DairyNZ alongside the farmers to work through the plans for culling and restocking.’’

The Stevensons bought the sheep and beef farm in an equity partnership just over two years ago. It is the only Wairarapa property hit by the disease, and was detected in June, after MPI traced their cattle to an infected farm in the South Island.

They had bought cattle for finishing through a stock agent from a calf rearer who bought calves from an infected farm.

Almost 400 cattle were culled in early July and after a standdown period, the Stevensons have started to restock the farm.

Last week Ardern and O’Connor announced a $400,000 package to help farmers with compensation claims, online tools and extra support from the Rural Support Trust. The new compensation assistance team, put together by DairyNZ and Beef + Lamb NZ, is made up of rural professionals who can work with farmers on their claims.

Beef + Lamb NZ chairman Andrew Morrison said the farming industry had committed to spend about $270m over 10 years to help eradicate the disease.

‘‘We could have had more people from MPI, Rural Support Trust, Beef + Lamb NZ and DairyNZ alongside the farmers to work through the plans for culling and restocking.’’ Damien O’Connor