SYSTEMS | ANIMAL HEALTH
An outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis on the Central Otago farm managed by Jason Sutherland led to a rethink and a new direction.
Oversight leads to total reset BY: LYNDA GRAY
A
run-in with Mycoplasma bovis was a big kick in the guts for Tinwald farm manager Jason Sutherland. During September 1200 cattle, mainly Wagyu, and bull beef went out the gate for slaughter. It was a full-stop to the M bovis episode that took six months to resolve thanks to an administration oversight by MPI. Tinwald were part of First Light’s Wagyu programme (Country-Wide June 2019) finishing weaners from Canterbury breeders over two winters. In February last year they were grazing 450 R2 and 800 R1 Wagyu as well as 200 R2 beef bulls. There were also 300 R2 dairy heifer grazers that were due to return to their home in May. In March Jason and farm owners Amanda and Adrian Currie got the news that the R2 Wagyu were from an M bovispositive farm which led to the testing of Tinwald’s cattle. The testing uncovered positive animals in three of the five mobs,
124
but the fate of the cattle was put on hold until the further analysis of blood tests which were sent off in May. It took until August to be told by MPI that all the R2 weaners had to be slaughtered. “Apparently the results had been sitting on someone’s desk and never got processed and it was only when we followed up that we got told. In the meantime we fed out 4500 bales of balage to the 11,000 stock units we were wintering,” Jason says. Meanwhile the dairy heifers were tested clear and were returned home at the end of June. The R2 bulls weren’t so lucky, some tested positive which was frustrating because they were grazed well away from the Wagyu mobs. “It showed that the disease had made it on to the farm through two separate pathways.” In September the beef bulls and the Wagyu, including the R1s left Tinwald. “We hadn’t tested the weaners but made the decision to send them away. It was hard at the time but in hindsight I’m glad
we did it because it gave us the opportunity for a complete reset.” During the six week stand down from further cattle trading the Curries and Jason had the time to review, reflect and reset the Tinwald system. The Curries, formerly of Christchurch, bought the farm in 2012 transforming it from a dryland Merino business to an intensive dryland and grazing and finishing system. It’s been an ever-evolving system starting with dairy grazing and steer finishing then swapping out the steers with bull beef. Wagyu, a higher gross margin option, were taken on to replace most of the bull beef from early in 2018. Lanaco ewes and hoggets, and Headwaters hoggets were also grazed. Over time the pivot irrigated area was increased to 470 hectares and pastures upgraded mostly with hybrid ryegrass Shogun. The productive platform was in place, and the irrigation water reliable and relatively cheap. However, production output never met expectations mostly
Country-Wide Beef
May 2020