The Ministry for Primary industries has a planned cull of 4000 cattle on five farms where M. bovis has been confirmed. File Photo / Alan Gibson
The Ministry for Primary industries has a planned cull of 4000 cattle on five farms where M. bovis has been confirmed. File Photo / Alan Gibson
"It's an excruciating time'' for the farmers whose cattle have to be culled because of Mycoplasma bovis, Sarah Barr says.
The trustee from the South Canterbury Rural Support Trust spoke at a public meeting held by the Ministry for Primary Industries in Waimate on Thursday.
She urged the audience to contact the trust if they could think of anything that might help those affected by the bacterial cattle disease outbreak.
"Keep in mind how terrible it is for these people, losing their animals.''
Ministry technical liaison officer Victoria Barrell said she was "particularly concerned about the farmers embroiled in this through no fault of their own''.
She wanted the ministry to get on with its planned cull of 4000 animals on five farms where M. bovis has been confirmed, to avoid protracting the farmers' pain.
Legal controls overseen by ministry officials would govern the slaughter and following decontamination processes. Designated vehicles would take most of the cattle to meat-processing premises and be cleaned and disinfected at each stage.
Vets would inspect the animals to ensure they were suitable for transport, and they would be inspected again once they arrived to ensure they met antemortem standards.
South Canterbury Rural Support Trust representative Sarah Barr asks people to consider the farmers whose livestock has to be culled. Photo / Sally Brooker
No animals that were sick, severely injured or had medicine in their system were allowed to be killed for human consumption.
"There is no food safety risk with this disease,'' Dr Barrell said.
"It's a beef and dairy cattle welfare and production disease. It's common in many food-producing countries and endemic in the United States, Australia and the European Union.''
Animals not fit for transport would be disposed of humanely on the farm.
The properties that had had the disease would remain fallow for 60 days and undergo two rounds of stringent cleaning and disinfection, ministry director of response Geoff Gwyn said.
"We need a good census of the cattle and a full inventory of the farm. Then we have to look at repopulating the farm. We have to have a common view of the value of their stock.''
