Bull buyers frightened off by Mycoplasma bovis misinformation

Ministry for Primary Industries director of response Geoff Gwyn speaks at Thursday night's Waimate meeting, accompanied by ministry technical liaison officer Victoria Barrell. Photo / Sally Brooker

Misinformation allegedly spread by stock agents is preventing South Canterbury farmers from selling their bulls, Bill Wright says.

The Beef + Lamb New Zealand farmer-director told the Mycoplasma bovis meeting held by the Ministry for Primary Industries in Waimate on Thursday that he and other farmers had missed out on income because potential buyers were scared off of cattle from the region affected by the disease outbreak.

The bacterial disease was found for the first time in New Zealand in July on farms in the Waimate area owned by the Van Leeuwen Dairy Group. It has been confirmed on seven farms - five in the van Leeuwen group, one near Maheno in North Otago, and a Rangiora lifestyle block.

The two latter landowners have voluntarily had their cattle culled. The ministry is now arranging for cattle on the five infected van Leeuwen farms to be slaughtered.

About 50 people attended the Waimate meeting. During question time, Mr Wright said he had heard recently from two beef farmers who were trying to sell cattle and bulls but people were refusing to buy them because they came from South Canterbury.

"Stock agents are fuelling the fire. People outside the risk area are being penalised.

"I've probably had 60 bulls (sales) cancelled because I'm in South Canterbury, but that's by the bye. It's coming from the agents.''

Ministry technical liaison officer Victoria Barrell said farmers were suffering and she was trying to speak to as many people as possible.

"The risk is negligible. I need to speak to the agents. A lot of misinformation is out there. It's adding fuel to a fire that doesn't need to be burning.''

DairyNZ adviser Chris Morley said bull testing was now available, approved by the Veterinary Association. It came at a cost, but commercial bull breeders might want to consider it.

Ministry director of response Geoff Gwyn said the ministry was "trying to keep proportionality'' about the outbreak.

He acknowledged the affected farmers, saying they were "taking a hit for the team''.

"It's not their fault they're in this situation.''

Having completed about 33,000 tests since M.bovis was found, the ministry was "increasingly confident it had localised the outbreak'', he said. It was therefore planning how to "depopulate'' the five van Leeuwen farms. The planning should be completed in a fortnight.

"It's not our intention to depopulate beyond the infected farms.''

People who wondered why all the van Leeuwen cattle were not being culled should think about the farmers' position, Mr Gwyn said.

"The controls appear to be working. If it was spreading, we would know.''

Mr Morley said DairyNZ supported the ministry's decision. It was tough for the farmers.''

Although there was a risk more cases could be found on the Van Leeuwen farms, all those farms were still in quarantine lockdown, he said.

"It's pretty cool we've got a government that's prepared to have a go at this,'' he said.

There were no attempts at eradication in Australia or Britain.

The ministry's testing programme would continue until it met its target of 40,000.