If your property is confirmed as having M. bovis
The confirmation of infection means controls on your property would be strengthened from a Notice of Direction to a Restricted Place Notice.
Your own case manager (known as a farm systems manager) would work with you on plans for your property. All your cattle will be culled according to the plan we agree with you (as set out in a s122 Depopulation Notice under the Biosecurity Act 1993).
Your property would be cleaned and disinfected (by a contractor and at our expense). After this is completed, identified high-risk areas such as dairy sheds, calf sheds, and cow barns will need to be kept free of cattle for 60 days (known as a stand-down). You could then restock your property and we would help plan that.
Financial compensation is available for cattle directed to slaughter. Partial payments can be made within a fortnight of any cull.
M. bovis compensation for farmers
Culling of infected herds
All cattle on infected properties and future infected properties, plus some high-risk properties under movement controls, will need to be culled.
The timing of any cull will be worked through with individual farmers to minimise impacts on production. This means, for example, if a farmer wants to milk through to a particular date, finish off beef animals or achieve some other farming or personal objective, then we will work with that.
We will continue to trace all potentially affected cattle. We'll also test and cull herds with infected animals in them. This tracing, testing, and culling will continue until ongoing regular surveillance finds no remaining evidence of M. bovis.
M. bovis can’t be reliably confirmed in all individual animals. Seemingly healthy animals can still carry the infection and infect others. For this reason, if we confirm the disease in one animal, for disease control purposes we need to assume the whole herd is infected and cull them all.
Movement controls will be imposed
All infected properties will be placed under movement controls called a Restricted Place Notice. A Restricted Place (RP) is a property where there is either confirmed disease or a very high suspicion of disease. Cattle and other risk goods (such as equipment, vehicles, farm equipment) cannot be moved on or off the property without permission from MPI.
Find out more
Why are we eradicating Mycoplasma bovis?
Who to contact
If you have questions about Mycoplasma bovis:
- freephone MPI on 0800 00 83 33
- email info@mpi.govt.nz
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