It’s now a year from when the disease was identified on a South Canterbury dairy farm and still all seven pathways remain suspects.
“We have no pathway link to any one farm. We are still looking at all options,” Gwyn said.
While MPI has completed the inspections of three premises, two veterinary associated premises in the North Island and a farm in the South Island, it searched under warrant in March it cannot yet publicly announce the outcome.
“We were due to announce this publicly when we were informed that another regulatory agency was undertaking inquiries in relation to two of the inspected properties.
“As such, we have delayed confirming the results of our inspections until those inquiries are completed.”
MPI is not privy to the detail of the other agency’s inquiries and does not know what, if anything, it has investigated is relevant to those inquiries.
“Where an individual or a company is the subject of inquiries by another regulatory agency MPI would not want to do anything that may compromise that.
“We are deferring making any public statement about the outcome of our inspections until such time the agency making these inquiries has completed them.
M bovis has been found on 57 farms over the past year with 42 of them active.
There are now more beef farms than dairy farms with the disease though many of the infected beef properties have dairy-beef cattle as opposed to straight beef breed animals and, given that, the number is not expected be of significance.
“A beef survey is currently under way and there will be more assurance on that by the end of the year.”
Gwyn said whether dairy, beef or lifestyle, all farms affected by the disease are subject to the same rules.
He wasn’t so concerned about the lifestyle group.
“I am less concerned with lifestyle properties. They tend to be a one-stop-shop and not a great risk to manage.”
As for calf rearers and sale yards cattle movements, there’s comprehensive advice available on the DairyNZ website and Gywn urged people to get familiar with and heed the advice.
“There is no zero risk and we are not necessarily recommending business stops. We have under control the properties we believe are infected and other farmers should continue to do business as usual, of course, under best management practice.”
He was pleased to note on-farm biosecurity is lifting.
“Farmers are responding and the industry is standing up.
“Biosecurity risk management and Nait compliance for good traceability remain fundamental to the response and eradication programme.”
MPI remains confident the earliest occurrence of M bovis in NZ is late 2015 on the Southland farms of Alfons and Gea Zeestraten.
“All the evidence we have to date from 170,000 tests points to the introduction being late December 2015 or early 2016 and that earliest occurrence does relate to Southland.
“But we haven’t got blinkers on and we urge people who believe they have evidence otherwise to come forward.”
To date close to 35,000 of an expected 160,000 cattle have been slaughtered in the phased eradication programme.
A Veterinary Association directive to its members last week regarding the approval for transport of pregnant cows to slaughter within two weeks of calving is being managed, Gwyn said.
“We are working with farmers to manage this and if necessary we will retain them on-farm if they can’t be moved to slaughter.”
To date MPI has received 219 compensation applications with the total value claimed at $32 million. Of $18m assessed, $14m has been paid either in full or in part.
As the second round of milk testing gets under way Gwyn expects more infected farms will be found.
“We will find more herds. I just hope it will be in single figures.”
Plans are under way to test bobby calves either on-farm or at point of slaughter and beef cattle tests will also be done at processing plants.
MPI is hosting a delegation of infected property farmers in Wellington on Wednesday to get structured feedback from grassroots farmers.
“We want to assess processes, know what is working and what isn’t, what we can do better to make the response as fit for purpose as we can for farmers and how we now look at working at a local community level,” Gwyn said.
