Mycoplasma bovis: MPI says cattle disease eradicated from last remaining farm in NZ

MPI says good progress has been made in eradicating M bovis, but that doesn't mean the job is done. Photo / Christine Cornege

By Sally Murphy of RNZ

The last remaining farm with cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis has been cleared of cattle, but it doesn’t mean the end of the eradication effort.

Since first being discovered in New Zealand in 2017, over 183,000 cattle have been culled from 278 farms.

The Ministry for Primary Industries said there was just one property still to be cleared of the disease.

The farm on Banks Peninsula was cleared of cattle at the end of February and the cleaning and disinfection process was completed last week.

The 60-day standdown is almost complete and the Restricted Place notice is expected to be revoked this week.

Director of the M bovis eradication programme Simon Andrew said while the revocation of this property marks good progress made towards eradication, it doesn’t mean the job is done.

“We are halfway into a 10-year Programme and will continue with extensive background surveillance for several years to ensure New Zealand is free of M bovis.

“It is likely more infected properties will be identified before eradication is declared.”

Andrew said farmers should continue to be vigilant with NAIT and recording animal movements, and take care to ensure the health history of any stock coming onto their farm.

- RNZ