Report urges MBovis infection threat study

More than 22,000 cattle are to be killed in an attempt to contain the disease. Photo / File

A government investigation into the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis has identified imported frozen semen and embryos as an infection risk "knowledge gap" needing research funding.

Technical reports on the investigation of the recent disease incursion, dumped last night by an under-pressure Ministry for Primary Industries more than a week ahead of scheduled release, said a review by international experts on New Zealand's response to the first outbreak of the cattle disease suggested frozen semen in particular needed research as a conveyor of Mbovis.

More than 22,000 cattle are to be killed before the new dairy season starts in June in an MPI initiative to try to eradicate the disease.

MBovis affects beef and dairy cattle and was first identified on Oamaru dairy farms in the South Island last year. The disease is well-established in the herds of New Zealand's trading partners, and other countries, which try to manage it.

New Zealand is the first country in the world to try to contain the disease, which MPI is confident is not yet well-established here, by large scale culling of cattle on 28 infected properties — all but one in the South Island.

Last night's information dump by MPI, possibly spurred by growing rural community speculation about how MBovis entered the country, contains little hard information and does little to contradict farmer accusations that MPI has been slow to take decisive action.

This is echoed in DairyNZ's accompanying statement that MPI "had recognised the resourcing challenges to the investigation and the impact that poorly maintained NAIT records has had on the response".

NAIT is New Zealand's system of identifying cattle and tracking their movements around the country. It relies on farmers' co-operation and has been criticised as dysfunctional and onerous by rural leaders.