MAF moves to confine pig disease to north

South Island farmers say they are determined to keep their pigs free from the catastrophic wasting disease spreading through farms between Hamilton and Auckland.

Post-weaning multi-systemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), a viral disease which most affects piglets between eight weeks and 16 weeks, causes weight loss, diarrhoea, breathing difficulties and jaundice. Mortality rates vary. There is no known treatment for the disease.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) has indicated there is a possibility that the disease may have entered the country through pigs being fed uncooked pig meat.

The disease was first discovered on a Waikato farm last September and it has since been found on 15 farms, all north of Hamilton.

MAF has introduced movement restrictions on live pigs, and genetic material, including embryos, between the North and South Islands.

Pork Industry Board chief executive Angus Davidson said the board believed the disease originated from a farmer obtaining uncooked products from an Auckland factory that produced bacon and egg pies in 1999.

Regulations preventing farmers feeding uncooked pig meat to pigs were removed in 1998, but new rules requiring meat in pigfood to be cooked are expected to be finalised in the next few months.

- NZPA