Listen: Is MPI winning the fight against M. bovis?

MPI's Director of Readiness and Response Geoff Gywn. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Geoff Gwyn's Mycoplasma bovis update had a positive feeling to it on today's edition of The Country.

MPI's Director of Response against M. bovis, told Jamie Mackay "I think we're in a good space at the moment."

Gwyn reports that restricted property numbers are "reasonably static" at 71, with 41 infected and 160 under a Notice of Direction (NoD).

"We were at one stage ... at 350 properties under regulatory control in early May and we're now sitting around the ... 260 mark. So that's a pretty good reduction."

Some properties are now ready for repopulation says Gwyn, who confirms that 30 infected farms and around 30,000 animals have been culled.

Other properties have completed the cleaning and disinfection process, particularly in Oamaru and Invercargill.

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Compensation is still an ongoing issue for farmers caught up in the Mycoplasma bovis response and Gwyn says MPI is "doing everything we can" to make the process as fast as possible.

MPI's target is set at 10 days to have 75 per cent of the value of culled cows back to the farmer, and it has achieved that in 80 per cent of cases says Gwyn.

"I think it's vastly better than it was but we're still trying to make it even better still."

Spring milk testing will be a "watershed moment" for MPI says Gwyn as each farm in New Zealand will be tested six times over a 12 week period.

As for the beef industry, Gwyn says testing will take place from random samples of culled animals at the meat works, as it is the easiest and most effective way to test beef cattle for Mycoplasma bovis.