Bovine TB big threat to farming future

Press, 9 December 1989, Page 3

Bovine TB big threat to farming future

By

SUZANNE KEEN

Bovine tuberculosis is a big threat to the future of beef, dairy and deer farming in Canterbury, the Canterbury Regional Council was told yesterday. A report by the council’s land officer, Mr John Glennie, said the spread of'bovine tuberculosis by possums was of far greater concern in the medium to longterm than the rabbit problem. It could have serious consequences for exports of meat, live animals and animal products. Mr Glennie said that already live sheep shipments from parts of Canterbury had been cancelled by the buyers when it became known the sheep were from an infected area.

Farmers within or near areas where TB was found had difficulty selling stock to other farmers even though their stock was not infected. A report by the Forest Research Institute and the D.S.I.R. said that TB-infected possums were the most serious veterinary threat in New Zealand. They predicted that by the year 2031 all possum populations in the South Island could be infected, meaning that all farms with possum populations would be continually exposed to TB infection. Mr Glennie said bovine TB was not restricted to cattle and possums. Deer were particularly susceptible and it had been found

infrequently in pigs and cats. Possums were the main carriers for the spread of the disease because they were highly susceptible to it, were mobile, widely distributed in farming areas and there were large numbers of them in many areas. Mr Glennie said all cattle had compulsory herd testing for bovine TB and attempts were being made to have this apply also to deer. The Government is funding possum control programmes, by which the possum population can be reduced through poisoning, trapping, shooting and similar methods. The funds are being filtered through approved bovine TB management plans.

Mr Glennie said that three plans had so far been prepared in the worst-affected Canterbury areas, which are the area of North Canterbury between the Waiau and Hurunui rivers, Banks Peninsula, and the Mackenzie Basin. The regional council’s operations rural services committee recommended it adopt these management plans and the responsibility for funding the region’s share of the cost. There have been isolated outbreaks of bovine TB in other parts of the region, but Mr Glennie said possum control work in these areas had been undertaken without the need for a management control person.