THE message coming out of a Mycoplasma Bovis workshop at Edgecumbe last week was that farmers and contractors must change attitudes to deal with the disease.
At a packed Edgecumbe War Memorial Hall last Wednesday, 70 farmers talked about the threats and possible solutions to the disease that the Ministry of Primary Industries has vowed to eradicate from New Zealand.
Farmers at the workshop created a long list of potential risks they could face regarding biosecurity at the farmgate. Much of the risk, they said, came from contractors needing access to the farm. A clean-on, clean-off system was determined to be the best, first line of defence.
Galatea farm contractor Chris Van Den Broeke said any effort contractors or transporters made to keep their equipment clean could be undermined by a moment of carelessness by farmers themselves.
“I think we can try as hard as we like to stop all these things but there will still be farmers driving around with grasses hanging off the undercarriage of their vehicles,” he said.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council manager of land resources Chris Corbett said farmers would have to take the same steps as visitors when it came to disinfecting equipment.
Mr Van Den Broeke was sceptical of efforts to eradicate the disease, saying that scientists worldwide had researched the disease and no cure had been forthcoming.
“You’ll never reduce the risk down to zero but it’s about doing everything you can to minimise it,” Dairy NZ senior farm advisor Ross Bishop said.
Mr Corbett said a premium could be available for New Zealand products if M. Bovis was not an issue.
“We can put a dollar value on being free of this disease,” he said.
Mr Bishop said dividing the farm into green, amber and red zones could act as a barrier to the spread of the disease. Green zones would be areas where contamination risk was low and visitors could have easy access to.
“Think of the farm as an island,” he said.
When the issue surrounding service bulls was broached, Dairy NZ policy advisor Nita Harding said there was risk.
“Service bulls are problematic, there’s no question about that but it’s up to the farmer,” she said.
If the disease is eradicated, New Zealand will be the first to do it.
“A lot of the world is now looking at us to see how we manage this,” Ms Harding said.
“So, we’ll end up being the world leader on how to deal with it.”
There are recognised trigger events that, depending on the outcome, will determine the next steps MPI can take.
Over the months since the disease was discovered on a Canterbury dairy farm, farmers have had all their milking cows tested for the disease.
“The milk testing (results) will be a milestone in our response evaluation,” Ms Harding said.
Catherine Cropp echoed what many farmers had been thinking since the disease became known.
“Everything we do on the farm is automatically going to become more expensive,” she said.
Ms Harding said though there was a possibility of the disease spreading further than it had already, farmers could start small and adapt as conditions required.
“Start with something simple, even if it’s just a place for visitors to wash their boots,” she said.
“Anything you do is better than what you’re doing now.”
Event organiser Eastern Bay of Plenty Whakatane branch director Greg Malcolm said as much as he understood concerns over more work and expense in farming, the reality was the disease had arrived and effort should be taken to eradicate it.
“As much as it might be a hassle and risk farmers and contractors, it’s in our best interest for making proactive plans and working collaboratively,” he said.
He said by taking a page out of Britain’s handbook for dealing with tuberculosis, farmers could decrease risk.
“We just need to pick up our game,” he said.