Cook Strait cattle check
Cattle crossing Cook Strait will be checked in a bid to stop the disease Mycoplasma bovis travelling north, starting yesterday.
Minister of Agriculture and Biosecurity Damien O’Connor said farmers were not complying with their legal obligations.
‘‘At the weekend I received the National Animal Identification and Tracing Scheme (Nait) Review report, which shows the system is not working well enough.
‘‘Only 57 per cent of farmers who record their animal movements do so within the required 48 hours.
‘‘I’m told overall farm-to-farm recording may be as low as 30 per cent.’’ Fines of up to $10,000 can be issued for non-compliance. Nait was set up to rapidly and accurately trace animals from birth to slaughter or live export.
Since it was introduced in 2012, only one infringement fine of $150 has been issued for failing to declare the movement of an animal. The problem of noncompliance was exposed after the discovery of the cattle disease for the first time in New Zealand in July. ‘‘Operation Cook Strait will be based where trucks stop in the upper South Island and will be run by the Ministry for Primary Industries. It will check that farmers moving cattle from the South to the North Island comply with their legal obligations under the Nait Act. Non-compliance will result in fines. It begins today and is likely to be extended to other parts of the country,’’ O’Connor said.
He called on farmers to improve their Nait compliance or ‘‘we can’t get past go’’ in any attempt to eradicate the disease.
‘‘Mycoplasma bovis is mostly spread through movement of infected cattle from farm to farm. This means cattle traceability between properties is critical to finding all affected animals, and stopping further infection,’’ O’Connor said.
Late last year he threatened to close off Cook Strait to cattle movements altogether.
Federated Farmers dairy chairman Chris Lewis supported the move. ‘‘We’ve got to back MPI to get this under control.’’
Mycoplasma bovis is widespread in dairying countries. It is highly contagious within herds but does not travel from farm to farm through airborne means. It does not infect humans and presents no food safety risk. There is no concern about consuming milk and milk products.
Signs of infected animals are untreatable mastitis in dairy and beef cows, pneumonia in up to 30 per cent of infected calves, ear infections in calves, abortions and swollen joints and lameness.