Yet another Mid Canterbury farm (the fifth in four months) has been confirmed with mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis) according to Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
The latest property to have the infection was inside the controlled area notice (CAN), MPI said. Back in May the government announced that the ANZCO feedlot in Ashburton was the only infected property remaining.
However another four properties have since been confirmed, and culling at ANZCO began last week.
M. bovis programme director Simon Andrew said the latest property to have the infection confirmed was inside the CAN announced in Wakanui (part of the Ashburton district) last week.
It was signalled last month that this new farm would likely test positive.
The fifth property was in the controlled area so the farm had been under movement restrictions since August, Andrew said.
“We continue to make progress in ensuring that we’re providing support to the farmers that are affected in the wider community itself.
“That area will be free of cattle from essentially mid-January through to mid-March and that will give us the best possible chance to make sure that we remove the infection from the area and enable the community to get back to farming without M. bovis.
The team is investigating the new property. At this stage, there is no evidence to suggest that there has been any forward spread on any farms that got cattle from this farm.
“The bulk tank milk and beef herd screening is all about being careful, so we will step up the frequency of our national bulk milk surveillance testing from once a month to every fortnight, as we do over spring,” Andrew said.
“We have a national testing regime to find infection, which we didn’t when M. bovis was first found in 2017. M. bovis is on just five farms compared to 40 at the height of the programme.
“It is important farmers know we are four years into a 10-year programme, and we remain on track for eradication.”

• By Pat Deavoll