Mycoplasma Bovis
M.Bovis is becoming more of a concern for us locally.
At this time of year MHV Water are often on farm working on maintenance of offtakes and outlets and as such we have decided to escalate our Bio Security Policy to Level 3.
Up until recently we have been operating at Level 2 of this policy.
What moving to Bio Security Level 3 means for you as an MHV Shareholder
- No MHV vehicle access to any MHV farming property where cattle are present, or have been present in the last 60 days.
- We may walk onto properties that have cattle, but boots will be scrubbed and disinfected before and after any entrance onto a property.
What we need from you
If you have been contacted by MPI and are under Notice of Direction (NOD), under consideration of a NOD, have a Restricted Place Notice (RPN) or have been identified as at risk please contact us. It is essential our team are aware. If you have an updated bio-security policy of your own, please send this through to us so that we can update our register.
We request to shareholders on open races who wish to graze the races to please temporarily fence with a hot wire along the race edge. It is essential that cattle are kept out of the races. We appreciate that putting up a hot wire along the race edge may be problematic and that presently M.Bovis is not considered to be water borne, however, it is crucial that we are not party to spreading this disease and we do not want to carry this risk.
The escalation to Level 3 is a temporary move to ensure that we are protecting all of our shareholders and we will review this as the situation continues to evolve over the next few weeks.
We have put a call into ECan to discuss our concerns over a possible increase in Nutrient Loading for our consent this year if farmers are under RPN or have been identified as at risk. We have an expectation that there will be an acknowledgement of the extenuating circumstances and we will keep you informed of our discussions with ECan in this regard.
We are at a time when stock movement is at its’ highest. MPI have developed Winter Feeding Guidelines to endeavour to reduce the risk of infection. Double fencing between different mobs on a winter grazing property would be considered good practice to reduce the risk of infection.
We know that it is a difficult time for you and that all farmers have concerns. If there is any way we can provide support, please let one of our team know.
NB. Please note that the Bio Security Policy remains as a draft. It was drafted and circulated in January and has had Board feedback to provide the necessary level of guidance pending the wider bio security policy framework being addressed outside M.Bovis.
