While MPI has not identified the farm, Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean said it was at Glenavy, and Labour primary industries spokesman Damien O'Connor understood it was on a large dairy farming operation, part of which was an indoor operation.
One of the biggest dairy farming operations in the area is Van Leeuwen Dairy Group.
Owners Aad and Wilma van Leeuwen, named earlier this week on National Business Review's 2017 Rich List with estimated wealth of $60 million, have an enormous robotic milking operation - the largest in the world of its type at 23,000sq m.
Mr van Leeuwen said yesterday any comment would be from MPI.
When asked if he could confirm if it was his cattle affected, he said, ''No, I can't''.
MPI said it was legally obliged to maintain the privacy of the farmer, unless there was a biosecurity requirement for the public good to do otherwise.
MPI was tracing all risk materials on and off the affected property in the past six months.
Any farmers who might have received any potential risk goods from the affected farm would be contacted urgently but there was ''no cause for community concern in this instance''.
Mycoplasma bovis could be very infectious between stock on a property in close contact, but it did not spread via the wind or water and there was no concern for anyone who might neighbour the affected farm.
Yesterday, the New Zealand Veterinary Association said about 150 cows were affected on the property which had about 1000 milking cows.
Mr O'Connor believed the affected cattle should be destroyed, along with those that had come into contact with them, saying the cost to New Zealand's dairy industry would be ''enormous'' if the disease spread.
Mycoplasma bovis was commonly found in cattle globally but it had never previously been found in New Zealand.
He believed the country's disease-free status had ''probably been underestimated and under-valued'' and there were a ''huge'' number of questions over the detection of the disease.
It was better to act quickly now and eliminate any possible spread than ''sit back and wake up'' to a much larger situation in a month or two's time, he said.
Mr O'Connor said he was concerned it seemed MPI and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy had been ''slow to act''.
Asked whether he was happy with the response to the outbreak, Mr Guy said ''yes''. It had been a good response by MPI which had acted quickly.
''As soon as the testing was confirmed late on Saturday the farm was put on lockdown and an emergency meeting of experts was convened to consider the risks. A large team, including the animal industries and vets, carried out significant work before it was publicly announced.
''This disease can have serious effects on cattle, but importantly it's also slow moving and is not windborne. If it was, then there would have been a different type of response,'' Mr Guy said.
Any decisions on stock culling would be made by scientific experts.
The New Zealand Veterinary Association was working closely with members and MPI to provide technical advice and support to vets to be alert to the symptoms of the disease.
Farmers were advised to call their vet if they suspected their cattle were showing any clinical signs of the disease, including mastitis in dry and milking cows, arthritis in cows, late-term abortions and premature calves.
- Otago Daily Times
