Managing bovine TB in drought

Media release
15 December 2010

Managing bovine TB in drought

Farmers in drought-stricken Northland, Auckland and Waikato are encouraged to continue to fulfill their bovine tuberculosis (TB) testing requirements.

The Animal Health Board (AHB) understands this is a difficult time for herd owners as feed becomes scarce and many farmers look to move stock off their property to emergency grazing.

AHB Northern North Island Regional Co-ordinator Frank Pavitt advises cattle and deer herd owners to carefully manage the TB risk associated with stock movements.

“Before any livestock can be moved off the farm, herd owners must remember to complete an Animal Status Declaration (ASD) form and ensure their animals are correctly identified with the official ear tags,” Mr Pavitt said.

“Herd owners within Movement Control Areas (MCA) must arrange a TB test before moving their stock off-farm. We also strongly encourage herd owners outside of these MCAs to complete their regular TB test before moving any animals.”

Herd owners can contact the AHB on 0800 4 TB INFO (0800 4 824 636) to schedule a test or discuss an alternative arrangement.

“Farmers should be aware that the TB status of their herd is determined only by a whole herd test. If the AHB has not been told before the test that there are animals off the farm for emergency grazing, a further test may be required,” Mr Pavitt said.

“Farmers receiving stock for grazing also need to be mindful of introducing TB into their own herd. They should rigorously check the TB status of stock entering their property and, if the information on the ASD form is incomplete or not supplied, the animals should not be accepted.

“In this case, the farmer needs to contact the AHB to ensure they are not putting their own livelihood at risk,” Mr Pavitt said.

ENDS

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