M. bovis - we need to be vigilant
From November 1, 2023, Ministry for Primary Industries’ Mycoplasma bovis Eradication Programme has been contracted out to disease management agency OSPRI, as it enters a long-term surveillance phase.
OSPRI, the disease management and traceability entity, says it is supporting farmers changing addresses this Moving Day.
It is urging sharemilkers moving farm and herds to call the OSPRI contact centre to ensure their NAIT account and TBfree herd records are up to date before they move.
This is essential for on-farm biosecurity and supports current livestock disease management responses.
OSPRI says it has been working alongside the dairy industry, Federated Farmers, and MPI to ensure farmers are suitably informed of their NAIT obligations during the Covid-19 national emergency.
“We acknowledge this a challenging time for dairy farmers given the restrictions around social distancing and travel,” says head of NAIT Kevin Forward.
To help minimise the load on farmers moving farm or herd, OSPRI has produced a Moving Day guide.
This has been circulated to the wider industry and can be downloaded from the OSPRI website.
As is the case every year, if moving animals to a new farm or a grazing block, farmers are required to record and confirm all livestock movements in the NAIT online system, says Forward.
“This is vital for maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the NAIT system.
“We’ve made some great progress with farmers now more engaged with their NAIT obligations and recording movements accurately and in a timely manner.
“We expect farmers will want to keep building on this and make animal traceability a priority for their on-farm biosecurity,” says Forward.
OSPRI also recommends that farmers complete a livestock transporter declaration if requested by their transporter. This relates to new legislation around the transportation of animals.
Farmers should ensure all animals are tagged and registered in NAIT. If animals are unsafe to tag, they can only be moved to a meat processor and not your new farm.
“Please remember that unsafe to tag animals [UTT] must be visibly marked and you’ll need to complete an unsafe to tag declaration and provide that to the transporter before the animals are loaded on the truck,” says Forward.
