It was taking a cautious approach so it could act quickly should there be reinfection in the wider national herd, he said.
“To ensure swift action can be taken, the feedlot will remain under a Restricted Place notice for a period while precautionary surveillance activities are undertaken, and we are assured our actions have been successful.”
Three farms remain infected with M bovis since it was first found in New Zealand in 2017 - 276 properties have been cleared of the disease.
Andrew acknowledged it had been a stressful time for local farmers but said the controlled area notice had been successful.
“As we have not found M bovis outside of Canterbury in more than two years and this has been one of the last remaining pockets of confirmed M bovis infection, we needed to take a different approach to protect farmers and their cattle.”
Listen to Jamie Mackay’s interview with Director-General of MPI, Ray Smith on The Country below:
National background surveillance screening continued to give confidence M bovis infection was not widespread, Andrew said.
“These programmes will continue for a further four years, to quickly detect any last remaining infected farms and gather the necessary evidence to declare freedom from M bovis in New Zealand.”
For the programme to be successful, it was critical the farming community maintained good on-farm biosecurity standards and kept animal movement records through the National Animal Identification and Tracing system up to date, Andrew said.
- RNZ
