CRV Ambreed is collaborating with Otago-based Disease Research Ltd to enable dairy farmers to access further information about Bovine Viral Diarrhoea and Johne's disease from their herd testing.
From this month, farmers would get their normal herd test information on BVD and Johne's disease but were now able to directly take that a step further with DRL.
Until now, the herd testing provided farmers with an initial positive or negative result for the diseases through an "alert" service, which told the farmer there might be an issue needing further investigation.
The extended service offered by DRL provided farmers with the option of follow-up testing of individual cows, ensuring properly informed management and control, CRV Ambreed managing director Angus Haslett said.
For more than 30 years, Emeritus Prof Frank Griffin, of the University of Otago, led a university-based research team devoted to solving animal health problems in the deer industry, including developing diagnostic tests for the detection of two major bacterial diseases - bovine tuberculosis and Johne's disease - and a vaccine for the prevention of yersiniosis.