The Government has accepted recommendations for a new long-term strategy aimed at eliminating bovine tuberculosis (TB) from New Zealand, with a renewed focus on eradicating infected possum populations in key disease hotspots across the country.
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard announced the plan in partnership with the beef, dairy and deer industries following an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB. The review concluded that infected possums must be removed from several areas in the central North Island, Hawke’s Bay and Otago to prevent the disease from continuing to spread to livestock.
Hoggard said possums remain the primary source of TB infection in farmed cattle and deer, making their eradication essential to achieving the Government’s goal of eliminating the disease from both wildlife and livestock by 2040.
New Zealand currently has just 16 TB-infected herds remaining nationwide, a significant reduction after decades of control efforts. Hoggard said the country was now close to reaching its goal but warned that infected possums could continue to reintroduce the disease into herds if left unchecked.
Funding for the programme will remain at $60 million annually over the next five years, with farmers contributing 60 per cent and the Government providing the remaining 40 per cent. A further review of progress and future funding requirements will be undertaken before 2031.
OSPRI, which manages the TBfree programme, will also introduce operational changes, including moving away from blanket herd testing in favour of more targeted surveillance using data and technology to identify higher-risk areas. The change is expected to reduce compliance costs and testing requirements for farmers while maintaining protection against the disease.
Hoggard said extensive consultation was carried out during the review process and noted that the new plan would benefit the entire dairy, beef and deer sectors, regardless of whether individual farms had experienced TB outbreaks.
He said eliminating the remaining pockets of infection would remove a longstanding obstacle for New Zealand agriculture and help safeguard livestock health into the future.
Image credit: Monika Kubala
Its any old excuse for dirty farming practices and you know it.
So this means more 1080?
Another church government false/fake science psyop that has had farmers throwing good money after bad, wasting their time and unnecessarily stressing their animals going through this arduous testing routine for no good reason other than the church government said so. This waste of time circus started in the 70’s.