Tuesday, May 1, 2018
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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
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M. BOVIS CONFIRMED
Frank Peters (left) son Kane and daughter-in-law Anna are unimpressed with the flow of information from MPI after being told they will have to cull their herd. PHOTO COLIN WILLISCROFT 300418-CW-004
Farmers feel like puppets BY COLIN WILLISCROFT
COLIN.W@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Frank Peters received the news that he would have to cull his 1400-strong dairy herd by phone at 5pm last Tuesday. He’s not had written confirmation of that decision since. That lack of clear and reliable information is typical of MPI’s handling of the mycoplasma bovis outbreak, Peters said, and has left many farmers fearful of where they stand. “We’re sitting here wondering
what to do. We’re ready for whatever they’re going to throw at us. We just want someone to get out from behind their desk and tell us what’s going on.” Peters’ wife Diane likened the situation to being like a puppet, waiting for your strings to be pulled. Only one cow in Peters’ $4 million herd has tested positive for the disease, an 11-year old animal that shared a paddock with some stock he bought from Southern Centre Dairies in
Southland four years ago. Since that time none of the stock onfarm have shown any symptoms of the disease, and bulk milk testing of the herd also came back clear, which led him to believe the farm was in the clear. He said most farmers viewed bulk milk testing the same way, which was misleading. “Farmers think that if their bulk milk testing comes back clear that they are free (of M. bovis). It’s not the case and it’s giving a false impression.”
We’re on the move.
The way the M. bovis outbreak had been handled was creating divisions in the farming community, Peters said, as it was creating them and us situations, which is not in keeping with the co-operative spirit that the dairy industry here is based on. That led farmers to being secretive, as they did not want to be labelled as having an infected herd. “People who are not sure if they have the symptoms have asked us what they’re like but we can’t
show them because we’ve never seen them. We’ve had no mastitis, no arthritis. All the calves have looked healthy. “So we tell them to go to the vet but they say ‘no, we can’t do that’. “People are just scared of saying anything. As long as that’s the case, eradication will never happen.”
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