Strong wool, tide may be turning. New Zealand

Country Wide Magazine, November 2020.

North Canterbury farmer Chris Earle is among those seeking a better future for strong wool. Annabelle Latz reports.

 

Thumbing through the old wool prices on the family farm in North Canterbury, Chris Earl sees that in the mid-1980s wool was 60% of his father’s income.

His great grandfather had an article in Waipara’s 1958 Squatter and Settler publication about the cost of wool and shearing.

“It was costing them two fleeces of wool to shear 100 sheep, wool prices were buoyant and shearers were on good money,” Chris says.

In 1989 he and his wife Jane bought 156 hectares in Scargill, and this has grown into a 693ha farm, through subsequent additions and leasing.

They bred Corriedales for a decade, and dabbled with Romneys.

Chris says in the late ‘80s wool prices slipped off the pace a bit, but were still reasonable.

In 2008 they bought Longdowns Stud, which was started in Temuka by Michael and Robyn Talbot with Coopworths in the 1970s, a good all purpose sheep. From the late 1990s the Talbots introduced Texel, then  East Friesian and Finn in small amounts, to increase fertility and milking ability.

This style of sheep allowed the Earls to focus more on carcaseweight and easy lambing, rather than wool production.

‘The writing was on the wall with wool. It was becoming less and less of our income. For the push to survive, we needed faster-growing lambs, and more of them.”

Chris acknowledges that New Zealand has been very innovative in the primary sector space, particularly with regard to our dairy industry and the fine wool industry.

But the strong wool industry has been left behind.

“The point I’m trying to make here, is that as a strong wool industry we have made poor decisions. It’s something that hasn’t happened overnight, but it has been a bit of our own doing.”

He believes NZ strong wool is the best in the world, but between leaving the sheep’s back and landing in the market, there has been a lack of standardisation which has created little vision, direction and confidence in the industry.

More assistance with the marketing of it is needed to create consistent quality, clear expectations from consumers, and a driven focus for producers.

“We’re busy farming, why isn’t the Government stepping in and promoting it?”

With the NZ Wool Board now gone, a marketing gap has been left and needs someone to fill it as there is a lack of a collective voice.

“Especially with the massive global movement of the importance of a green renewable resources. We need less reliance on oil products, and wool is in the perfect position to fill that gap.”

The biggest sellers of wool are the freezing works, which is only going to increase as the cost of shearing gets higher and farmers choose to leave fleeces on when their stock is loaded on to the truck.

Adding to this, lanolin and keratin could both be better utilised as an extra income from shearing.

“Why have we given it away? We don’t get paid a cent for the grease.”

He concedes woollen carpet is never going to be the saviour of the wool industry, or insulation.

“Not when you have synthetics coming into it.”

Thinking about alternative uses for wool such as continence pads, face masks, nappies, and horticultural aids like woollen mats for around trees, is the way the industry needs to be turning.

“There is a lack of general education. People don’t understand the product, some think sheep have to die to get the wool off their backs.”

With the increase in dairy industry and fewer sheep being bred these days, Chris says it would make sense for demand of all wool to be strong.

“But we’re getting under $2/kg. The best we ever got with our wool was close to $5/kg.”

So the best favour strong wool breeders can do themselves at the moment is focus on carcaseweights.

He remembers being a kid, and the Corriedale lambs were light, with wool from their toes to their nose, and barley grass everywhere.

“We’d sit in the catching pen  and be pulling the barley grass out of their eyes.”

Today they strive for less wool, and faster-growing lambs that grade well at heavier weights, and they aim for more of them.

“In the mid-’80s the average lamb was 12.5kg carcaseweight, there was no genetics to grow them out. Today, 18 to 20kg lambs are sold straight off their mum, in the same period of time. This keeps you in the game.”

The Earls did work with a slightly lower micron of 31-32 with their earlier breeds, and they’d cut a 4.5kg fleece. But the yield was 65-70%.

“These girls now cut 3-3.5kg fleeces, with a 34-45 micron, and a yield close to 80%.”

Chris says although it looks half a kilogram difference on paper, the workload and mothering time is a lot less.

“We’re getting less for the wool, but overall it’s better.”

It’s about getting lambs on the ground.

“Because wool is the most inheritable trait you can get on the sheep. Right now, it’s about getting the stuff that pays the bills, sorted.  We can improve the wool quality later, and quickly, when the New Zealand strong wool market comes right.”

But Chris does believe consumers are looking at more sustainable options.

“The tide is turning on synthetic products, you can feel it. If that is going to be the savior, we have the trump card.”

 

‘As a strong wool industry we have made poor decisions. It’s something that hasn’t happened overnight, but it has been a bit of our own doing.’

See the article online here

Strong Wool | With Belles On
Strong Wool | With Belles On

No Pain, No Rogaine

It’s 10pm and the drizzle has switched up a notch to steady rain.

“In fairness,” chirps Dani a couple of metres ahead of me as we scramble through the thick Old Man’s Broom, “at least we’re not in that prickly Matagouri.”
Agreed.

We have named ourselves team Around The Clock, (team74) and we’re navigating our way across the gully to Checkpoint 71, via some thick scrub we’re hoping to skim around the side of.

Wind the clock forward an hour.

“In fairness,” I chirp, a couple of metres behind Dani as we scramble through the thick Matagouri bush, “at least this time we’re on track with where we want to go.” The compass assures us of it.

Agreed.

Oh the power of positivity.

Dani is a weapon on the navigation and with the compass, I’m in awe as she still manages to work out roughly what ridge we’re heading for.
Wind the clock forward to 2am.

“F*ck this,” we say in chorus, as we bash through a combination of the both elements of scrub, down by a stream we end up wading through.

Our legs are bleeding, we’re bundu bashing hard and even suffering the odd tumble down a steep bank. Incredible how you can be skimming along the top of a pile of branches, then within a split second you’re basically underground. Well under scrub.

Our Positive Cup is empty. It’s 3.30am.

We reach Bush Camp up by the access road. Soaked through (water goes up your sleeves when you’re swinging from branches in thick scrub), cold and shivering and bit fed up, and desperately needing something hot in our bellies. Our spirits lift as we’re greeted by the chirpy Search and Rescue guys and volunteers who are there to make life comfortable for just a few minutes.

Inside the hut is a war zone. Casualties are huddled by the fire and sleeping, their minds and bodies too hammered to continue.

The rule here is simple. “If you go inside by the fire, you’re declaring you’ve finished.”
Not the case with us. We still wanted to add a bit more discomfort to our adventure.
A quick change of clothes and about four hot drinks later, our discomfort subsides enough to head off once more. The rain has not subsided, the wind has picked up, and the need to keep moving to retain some core warmth is vital.

Welcome to the scene in the thick of the small hours at the NZ 24 hour Rogaining Championships in Hanmer Springs, North Canterbury.
The name of the event is grandiose. But simply put, Dani and I are there as part of a fun adventure weekend away with friends and collectively we think we are due a challenge.
The challenge is delivered in spades thanks to a southerly blast that shakes the muggy low pressure system out of the way just before midnight.
When we kick off at midday on Saturday things are great. We boost up a few peaks gaining well over 1000m in altitude pretty quickly, steadily punching our CPs we’ve marked on the map. The back blocks of Hanmer Springs are beautiful. Life was good.
At 8.30pm, on point with the weather forecast, the clouds started to spit at us. On goes an extra layer, the wet weather gears and the headlight, pocketing one more CP as darkness falls.

The birds start to chirp as we leave the relative haven of Bush Camp at 4.30am. Mentioning a sunrise is too generous, but the sky starts to lighten after a while. We’re mindful of nearby CPs, but also battling to stay awake. That battle is occasionally lost as we both start to sleepwalk as we hike down the access road. It’s quite funny and we laugh out loud as we both take turns at momentarily losing consciousness while our legs continue to operate. The SleepMonsters have fun with our minds too, I see police cars ahead while giant birds fly towards me. Complimentary hallucinogens hell yes.

The rain turns to sleet and the wind picks up more.
We opt for a technical trail for further CP seeking to get us off the exposed tops.
Before long, a couple of hours are chewed up. We punch in a couple more CPs, then high five and call it a day.

Even as we navigate the last hour home, we’re not out of the woods with battling the conditions and it’s important we keep moving as our body temperatures battle.
It’s 9.30am, and we arrive back at camp. Where it all began, 21.5 hours ago. We tag ourselves in.

Hot soup and bread and we are out of the elements.
We grin.
Back at the house our friends slowly return home too from their adventures.
The place is a bomb site with wet clothes and muddy shoes and mushed up race food that never got eaten.

Slipping in and out of warm naps throughout the afternoon, we gather our thoughts in the early evening and head to the pub for some goodness.
Between the six of us we mow a couple of kilograms of steak and sink a few pints.
Life is good. We grin. We share stories.

Tomorrow is Monday and we’ll be heading back to the real world.
But for two days we escaped life, gave our minds and bodies a good auld shake up, and replenished our souls.

Call for pause on tahr culling plans, New Zealand

Country Wide Magazine, September 2020.

A Department of Conservation programme to cull Himalayan Tahr from the mountains of the Southern Alps has stirred up the hunting community. Annabelle Latz reports.

The tahr hunting community fear the Department of Conservation will cull the tahr population in two of the South Island’s National Parks to a level that will strip away their ability for recreational and commercial hunting.

Within its review of the Himalayan thar control plan 1993 (HTCP), DOC said its estimated population of 34,500 tahr is too high, and has commenced a controlled culling programme across the feral range which includes Mt Cook/Aoraki National Park and Westland Tai Poutini National Park.

The goal is to reduce the tahr population to 10,000.

This operational plan for 2020-21 is on hold for now, however, because the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) in early July filed judicial review proceedings against the Minister of Conservation and Director-General of Conservation. 

The foundation’s claim that DOC’s time frame to allow for reasonable review of the revised Operational Plan was inadequate, was upheld, resulting in DOC being instructed to undertake only half of its proposed 250 controlled culling hours throughout the feral range, until after further consultation with stakeholders took place. 

This consultation took place at the beginning of the month and included 12 oral and 13 written submissions. 

DOC will be making a decision about its number of culling hours by the end of the month.

Operations director, says DOC made the decision to undertake only 60 hours within the National Parks while consultation was carried out, and took place between July 1 and early August, and he said the planned activity was made public.

“DOC is in agreement that further research is needed for effectively reviewing the HTCP 1993 plan.”

Inside the 148,000 hectares of National Parks DOC wants tahr at the lowest practicable densities, (targeting bulls and nannies) compared to the remaining 425,000ha areas outside of the National Parks but still within the feral range, where lowest practicable densities is not the goal, and they will target just nannies.

Reddiex admits the plan has never been reviewed, as was intended when it was first published in 1993. He also sympathises with the tahr hunting sector, and acknowledges how special National Parks are to them as a place to hunt, but says there will still be tahr in the National Parks, just not to the quantity they are now.

“The two National Parks are just 148,000ha of the total 706,000ha, (seven tahr management units) in the South Island.”

Population density reviews happened between 2016 and 2019, tahr populations estimated from aerial surveys across a number of two kilometre square grids. 

DOC will be proactively publishing maps which include sightings of bull tahr outside of the National Parks, to help trophy hunters plan their next hunt. 

If the full 250 hours of culling does take place, valid until July 1, 2021, it will cost DOC $700,000.

The Tahr Jam was a huge success for the NZTF last month, which saw more than 1000 people in 600 vehicles drive slowly from Lake Pukaki to Mt Cook Village, in a bid to peacefully rally against DOC’s magnitude of proposed culling hours and the targeting of bull tahr in National Parks – which through mutual agreement, hasn’t happened for years;  55,000 people also signed a petition requesting DOC ‘halt the 2020-21 tahr cull and review the Himalayan Tahr Control Plan’.

As a crowd gathered in the village, some mentioned helicopter culling had begun without any prior notification to park users and tahr were being shot in close vicinity to huts and around people in the hills, ruining their long-awaited trips, some who had travelled from the North Island and incurred considerable expense. Witnesses say tahr took 18 shots to kill, while some were left wounded and died slowly in the snow.

Willie Duley, NZ Tahr Foundation spokesperson, acknowledges DOC was given the right by the High Court to begin its 125 hours of interim culling last month without consultation, but says he hoped they would have been more collaborative in their approach to reduce conflict. 

He says it’s the amount of common ground among the stakeholders tied up in this debate continually being ignored that is the most frustrating for the tahr hunting industry. Having a tahr population in the National Parks which enables the natural habitat to thrive is what hunters want just as much as non-hunters, and it can be achieved with proper consultation and a well thought out management plan.

“We can all have our cake and eat it too”.

There are 166,000 highly passionate hunters in NZ, many more than happy to continue helping with control work.

Duley is concerned with the 34,500 tahr population DOC talks about, this figure an average, estimated on their population data gathering that took place between 2016-2019 which ranged from 17,000 to 54,000 tahr.

NZTF population modelling says 18,000 tahr have been removed in the last three years, and of that 11,000 have been removed since the last 2019 population survey. This means 20,000 tahr remain, of which 5000 are estimated to be nannies which control the breeding.

“A three-fold increase in culling from DOC is frightening and totally unwarranted, particularly at a time when hundreds of hunting businesses are still hurting from the effects of Covid-19. There is no conservation imperative for this magnitude of culling and their continual spin on this issue is very misleading.”

Duley says hunting would not be viable in the National Parks if populations were reduced to DOC’s intended zero densities. 

“That is our major concern, especially when we’re the largest user group of much of the parks.”

He would also like to see DOC focus on targeting nannies as this is the best way to control population while bulls are the recreation incentive and income provider for thousands of Kiwis.  

“Our mental health relies so much on spending time in those mountains and living among tahr. I challenge anyone to say a bull tahr in that rugged and inhospitable environment isn’t impressive.”

‘I admire how they are able to survive in such a harsh environment. Those mountains, that terrain, it’s no easy feat to carve out an existence in that environment…. It’s also important to us to know where our food comes from.’

Highlight of the year

Matt Sanson’s annual multi-day tahr hunting trip with friends to Westland Tai Poutini National Park is a true highlight of his year.

A tool for escaping the hustle and bustle, spending time with friends, and gracing the same challenging and remote areas as the tahr.

“In this day and age it’s getting harder to get that kind of adventure, where you feel you are the first person to visit a place. I think time in nature and the challenge of remote places is a fundamental experience that all people should have.”

Although he admits the worst part about hunting is actually killing an animal, he says hunting is also about the connection with food.

“I admire how they are able to survive in such a harsh environment. Those mountains, that terrain, it’s no easy feat to carve out an existence in that environment…. It’s also important to us to know where our food comes from. For hunters, we know the animal before it ends up on our plate. It’s such a natural thing, it’s a natural process.”

Non-hunters sometimes join him, a life-changing adventure and a chance for the them to gather an understanding of what tahr mean to hunters as a resource.

“There are two sides to the discussion, and yes I agree that numbers need to be managed. But it doesn’t take much to tip the balance. Removing them completely from National Parks is callous and unnecessary.”

Before the cull DOC enforced in 2018, Matt would see mobs of 50 tahr, and during his recent trip to Westland he saw perhaps 25 in total.

He vividly remembers his first-ever tahr hunting trip 15 years ago up the Bettison Stream in South Westland, and that immense enjoyment still stands today.

“We love the idea of tahr collectively, more than we love individual tahr. Hunters understand the need for population control, but not at the expense of the resource that provides organic free-range meat, a fantastic challenge, and gets so many out to experience our wild and remote places.”

Matt suggests tahr is managed in the same way Wapiti in Fiordland is managed, where animal management and population control is undertaken through a strategy jointly devised by hunters and DOC.

 

 “If populations get too high, tahr do damage flora and fauna. But the tahr hunting community believe there is a balance that can be achieved between looking after the alpine environment, and having tahr there.

 

“A three-fold increase in culling from DOC is frightening and totally unwarranted, particularly at a time when hundreds of hunting businesses are still hurting from the effects of Covid-19.”

 

See the article online here
Pause on Tahr Culling | With Belles On
Pause on Tahr Culling | With Belles On

A hiss, not a roar. New Zealand

Country Wide Magazine, August 2020.

The Covid-19 lockdown has kept international hunters at home and meant a very lean season for their NZ guides, as Annabelle Latz reports.

The stags were roaring, yet not a hunter was to be seen.

Owing to Covid-19 lockdown rules there were no trophy hunters gathering from around New Zealand or abroad to enjoy the roar this year.

Instead, hunting guides were left with empty appointment books, hunters stayed home, and stags remained untouched.

John Royle of Canterbury Tahr Hunter Guide NZ has been guiding for more than 12 years and this was the first time ever he’s been ground to a halt during the roar, his most lucrative season with full appointment books. He has lost potentially three months’ business.

“It’s the same with every hunting guide, and it’s going to be pretty limited basically until the borders open.”

He hunts mainly on Crown land and his clients come predominantly from Norway, Spain, New Caledonia, Australia, and France (he used some of his spare time during lockdown to learn French).

“All my clients have rebooked for next year, they all still want to come to New Zealand, which is great.”

He says most of the guiding companies are like this.

“This is a real positive for the industry.” Another positive for the industry is that antlers will have more points next season.

“Yes it’s a bad thing for this year but a great thing for next year.”

John is an arborist so counted himself lucky he did not rely solely on his guiding business for income, and has a few clients booked hunting tahr and chamois in spring.

Although John will not be adjusting his prices this year he predicted that some high-end guides, but not all, will adjust their rates for the New Zealand market, especially those who almost solely operate in the American market.

“The guides will respond to the market.”

The flow-on business effects from the downturn in guided hunting were also harmful to the New Zealand economy.

“When my clients come to hunt, they also spend a lot of money in New Zealand.”

At Mungunui Hunting lodge, near Waitomo in the King Country, Mat Hall had to write off the 2020 season. Most guides had only just started their season with international clients when lockdown hit, and Mat says the 48 hours notice was very stressful in revising their schedules for the future.

“Even during the 2008-2009 global financial crisis we didn’t have it as brutal as this.” He says many hunting businesses aimed at international hunters will be under extreme financial pressure now.

“The subsidy that was first given to tourist operators is a token acknowledgment of a cost

to run a business that’s had nearly all its income wiped out for the year.”

Mat makes antler chandeliers as an offshoot of his operation and has expanded his business to domestic hunts.

He acknowledges it takes time to be known and set up for this, with most operators offering trophies such as big red stags, fallow bucks, and bull tahr that would not usually be booked by New Zealanders.

He was busy checking boundaries, general maintenance, and working alongside police catching poachers in late April right up to the last day of alert level 4 of the lockdown.

He is optimistic about the future for his business, which he established in 2001, but believes the lockdown on the world economy will possibly affect hunters booked for next season. “You have just got to make the most out of the situation and carry on the best you can.”

New Zealand Professional Hunting Guides Association president James Cagney says having no roar this year and a drastically shortened hunting season has been a huge setback for the industry with no international visitors.

“The value is in excess of $50 million annually. The losses for 2020, at a guess, will probably be around 80-90%.”

“American hunters account for 81%, Australian hunters make up 5%. The international market makes up around 99% of our industry’s client base.”

James is based at Lake Coleridge and hunts on private high country stations and Crown land, and guided three international hunts this season before lockdown.

“We don’t have a peak summer season, our peak season is autumn, but we were dead from mid-March.”

Adjusting prices to encourage domestic hunters for the rest of the year will be an option for only some of the guides such as the ones like James who provide free-range hunting, although even they have fixed costs like lease agreements they must meet. Although this will help, it will not replace the loss of business.

The high-end hunting lodges that cater for wealthy American hunters will have a harder time bringing prices down, with high overheads they cannot offset such as trophy stags on properties and the upkeep of their properties.

“The nature of the guided hunting business, particularly with the high end, is very front loaded with marketing at the US show circuit in the Northern Hemisphere winter, property leases, and buying stags.

We will just have to hold tight until the borders open up. We need hunters coming across the border, and without them the majority of hunters can’t operate.” Stags will be in hard antler through the rut, and heading into winter will need extra feed if they’re not to lose condition.

Moving stags to other properties with more feed may be a consideration but poses its own difficulties such as TB testing, tracing through the NAIT system, and having secure laneways and farm facilities to enable transportation.

“The big question now is what is their value. They can be used again next year but may not have the same value.”

There is also a question mark around next season happening, although many clients have rebooked for 2021.

“We are watching closely – that is going to be the real cruncher for us.”

James says the most important factor to remember is that tour operators are rural people, farmers, and hunters so they are resilient. Now could be a great opportunity for New Zealand hunters to consider taking domestic guided hunts, which can be done through the New Zealand Professional Hunting Guides Association. 

See the article online here

Hiss not a roar | With Belles On
Hiss not a roar | With Belles On
Hiss not a roar | With Belles On

M Bovis – Seeking accountability, not sympathy. New Zealand

Country Wide Magazine, August 2020.

North Canterbury beef farmers Stu Loe and Andy Gardner are not seeking sympathy, but they do want to highlight the inadequacies around the Mycoplasma bovis testing systems.

Stu farms beef and dairy beef heifers and steers, Andy finishes Friesian bulls, and they have each had two encounters with M bovis on their farms.

They say the timeline around results and methods of slaughtering and remuneration left them frustrated.

Andy received a call in May 2018 from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) that he had “animals of interest” on his farm that required testing.

A representative from AsureQuality visited the farm and ran blood tests on a sample of 120 of the herd and nasal swabbed 80% of that sample.

Andy was complimentary of the work carried out.

He learned there were a dozen bulls to be slaughtered, which he accepted and received remuneration for, but it was the timeframe and administration around this whole process that caused the frustration.

“The laboratories couldn’t keep up with the testing demand and we had to wait five weeks for a result. In the meantime, the animals were in lockdown.”

After five weeks, Andy learned that one “animal of interest” was to be slaughtered to confirm whether or not his farm had an M bovis case.

He said another area lacking in this whole process was ensuring there was the necessary killing space at the meat works.

“We were participants carrying out this system. It should have been easy, but it wasn’t.”

The weeks went by, the beast remained, and the clarity around whether or not his farm had a case of M bovis was no clearer.

He was told by MPI the reason for the holdup was that there was neither the transport nor the facility available to get the bull slaughtered.

It took three months from receiving notification of slaughter to the bull being slaughtered, and it would have been longer if Andy had not instigated action.

“The human cost of that is immense. It starts to weigh you down.”

THEY, NOT MPI, HAD IT SHOT

In the end Andy got sick of waiting, so he asked for the animal to be shot on his farm.

“That was a way to put a line under it and move on. It shouldn’t have happened this way.”

This took three requests, after which his case manager from AsureQuality visited his farm, was present for the slaughtering of the 15-month-old Friesian R2 bull, and then carried out the testing on the tonsils.

The test result came back negative – Andy had no cases of M bovis on his farm.

“But they shouldn’t have animals of interest waiting around for that long.”

His second taste of this system was in October 2019, after a line of 42 bulls he bought from Geraldine were animals of interest.

They were isolated from his other bulls the entire time, and after a month’s wait for the results he was informed by MPI they were to be slaughtered.

“The issue around this was the compensation,” Andy says, explaining what happened that summer.

In order for the notice of direction (NOD) to be lifted, a census had to be carried out where all the bulls on his farm had to have their tags read and recorded.

Meanwhile he had learned he was able to claim reimbursement for hired labour, bikes, dogs, and yards wear and tear. But he was also not able to invoice for his own time, or lost opportunity costs as a result of his being pulled away from other farm work.

“They don’t build goodwill.”

It was a fairly big job getting in 617 animals, especially in the height of summer as it was pencilled in for mid-January 2020.

The process took two days but he was only able to claim for one day, which he only learned about when he put through his claims and this particular one day was rejected.

“I should have employed two guys, they expect me to work for nothing.”

It’s the gap between who makes the rules and who has to follow them that is a major problem.

“How can you make such an arbitrary rule from Wellington? I think there is a massive disconnect in Wellington between what they think happens and what actually happens…there shouldn’t be a blanket approach.”

Although very frustrated, Andy weighed it up with the news he received 12 days later that there were no positive tests, which meant he could sell what he wanted to.

He wanted to put it all behind him.

“It was all bloody unpleasant. I just wanted to make it go away, to put a line under it and put it behind me.”

JUST A FARM OF INTEREST

Stu learned he had 21 animals of interest in April 2019, and the AsureQuality team visited his farm to run blood samples on his herd of 250.

A couple of weeks later the test results showed 21 had to be slaughtered for further testing, but all results showed up as negative.

“We realised we were just farms of interest, we didn’t have it.”

This happened in June, the slaughter price falling just short of the value price so MPI made up the difference.

Stu was complimentary of Rural Support, an organisation installed within the programme to be a sounding board and support system for farmers.

“They gave me a ring, they were just good to vent to if nothing else.”

To relieve himself of the NOD, Stu was required to do a whole-herd census.

He was expecting the all clear, but in fact a further 12 had to be slaughtered.

Again, no positive cases. Stu said difficulty lay in the fact not all meat works were set up with the testing infrastructure to accept animals related to M bovis. So this small number was sent to a dog food company in Timaru in September, which didn’t pay Stu itself because the animals were deemed “worthless.”

Although he wasn’t out of pocket because he received reimbursement, he later learned the meat was processed and sold as pet food.

He said more research needs to be done on these details, given we’re all taxpayers.

“So some people are doing really well out of this. And money is just being thrown around.”

And he only found this out because he had to chase MPI for the tracing paperwork so the animals could be taken off his farm system.

“They couldn’t tell me what animals had gone there, because their NAIT tags hadn’t been checked against what went onto the truck when I wanted them.”

The confusion was a concern.

“These were animals of interest, the ultimate test was failed by the place MPI asked me to send them to.”

Between his two cases life was still busy on the farm with lambing and all the day to day happenings of farm life.

To mitigate this frustration, Stu was able to be reimbursed for his time and any external labour he used for the M bovis testing requirements.

“We are just highlighting the fact it was a shit situation, made worse by shit administration. It’s okay for the younger dairy farmers who are more used to dealing with government departments, but for the sheep and beef farmers this can be really difficult.”

Overall, progress towards eradicating M bovis is tracking well, according to M bovis Programme Director Stuart Anderson.

He says the first few years were tough and hard going, but case numbers are steadily dropping ahead of bulk tank milk starting up again in spring, along with calving.

Recent months have created big challenges with the drought and then Covid-19.

He said the programme’s model of identifying the farms, contacting the farmers, testing and providing support is a ‘step by step’ process, and they are always looking at ways to improve their systems.

“We have all learned a lot, and we always welcome feedback. There is still more to do, we need to keep pushing on.”

See the article online here

Seeking Accountability | With Belles On
Seeking Accountability | With Belles On