The Ministry for Primary Industries has confirmed that bacterial cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis is present on a farm in the Ashburton area.
The Ministry’s response incident controller David Yard said milk sampling carried out by the dairy industry just before Christmas revealed a suspected positive result and MPI’s Animal Health Laboratory testing had confirmed this.
“The affected farm and an associated property have been under controls since Christmas Eve as a precautionary measure,” Mr Yard said.
“No animals or other risk goods such as used farm equipment have been allowed on or off the property during this time and these controls stand.”
There has been no sign of any illness in any of the approximately 600 animals on the property.
Mr Yard said that as a result of the new find, MPI was now tracing animal movements on and off the farm to determine if there were links to other affected properties.
MPI would now carry out checks and testing on some 30 other farms that had some association with the new affected property.
“Farmers in the area who have had some connection with the affected property will be contacted and those who do not hear from us in the next couple of weeks should consider they are under no increased risk from this most recent detection.
“However, if they have concerns or questions, they can contact us on 0800 00 83 33 or by emailing [email protected].”
MPI was also continuing tests on another Ashburton area farm that had previously returned inconclusive results. As yet, this farm was not regarded as positive, although it was under controls just in case.
Source: nzhearld.co.nz