Mycoplasma bovis cattle cull 'the right thing'

The Ministry for Primary Industries announced yesterday it would begin a cull of 22,332 cattle on all infected sites after scientific testing and tracing confirmed the disease was not endemic.
It was working immediately with farmers to kill the stock on the 22 active infected properties which still contained cattle, it said.
The disease can cause pneumonia, abortions, lameness and mastitis and can result in the deaths of infected cows.
Federated Farmers North Otago dairy chairman Lyndon Strang said the cull would be «the right thing» for New Zealand agriculture.
«It’s a really unfortunate position for those farmers that are in those infected properties and I just really hope that the compensation process happens quickly.»
The Government approved $85million in funding for operational and compensation costs for the outbreak response earlier this month, adding to the $10million approved in December.
About $60million of that sum was earmarked for compensation.
Farmers in general were supportive of the cull, Mr Strang said.
Those with infected stock would need a lot of moral support from other farmers, he said.
By: Jono Edwards
Source: Otago Daily Times
Link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=12020823