M. bovis bounce back: Dairy cattle number up for star role at Royal Show

Cows at the show in Hawke's Bay in 2015. Photo / File

A_HBT18210203.JPG Cows at the Royal Hawke's Bay A and P show in 2018. Photo / File

The Hawke's Bay A and P Society is bouncing back from the mycoplasma bovis crisis with Royal New Zealand Show dairy cattle entries the highest since returning to the showgrounds in Hastings in 2015.

General manager Sally Jackson said close to 60 entries have been received with more expected before the October 23-25 show, one of Hawke's Bay's biggest events and expected to attract crowds totalling about 32,000 people over the three days.

The dairy cattle entries already exceed those of 2015 when the classes returned to the showgrounds after a 12-year absence.

It's consistent with nationwide interest across the animal classes of the show which has a history dating back 156 years, and which is being run as the Royal Agricultural Society's premier Royal Show for a fifth year in a row.

Hawke's Bay and Canterbury were the only shows in New Zealand to stage cattle sections last summer as precautions kicked-in to contain an M. bovis outbreak which scientists confirmed in a South Island herd in mid-2017.

They calculated it had started about the end of 2015, although there has been some hint it could have been present as long ago as 2004.

Since the introduction of an eradication programme, more than 116,000 head have been culled nationwide, and almost $100 million paid to meet compensation claims in a continuing crisis which affected hundreds of properties, including a small number in Hawke's Bay but with the majority in the South Island.

Working with the Ministry of Primary Industries and major companies Fonterra and Affco, a successful A and P show bio-security protocol was established across the cattle section, but the crisis limited dairy entries in Hastings to just three last year.

Jackson said this year dairy cattle will be travelling to Hastings from as far afield as Wellsford, north of Auckland, with entries also from Waikato and Manawatu.

With the crisis still apparent, precautions remain in place, and Jackson said: "Although the risk is low, all possible measures are taken to reduce the risk of disease transmission during the event, and the Hawke's Bay A and P Society is extremely motivated to do all it can to protect all exhibitors and their stock."

It has meant that the show is being closely followed by the sector on the dual fronts of effectively being the national championships of show classes, with RAS medals across the classes, and of being the leading example as other shows implement the protocols developed in Hawke's Bay and Canterbury.