OSPRI New Zealand and Molesworth Station operator Pāmu Farms of New Zealand (Landcorp Farming Limited) are celebrating the success of four decades of determined effort, as New Zealand’s largest working farm has its cattle herd free of bovine tuberculosis (TB) for the first time in 37 years.

This milestone comes after Molesworth Station’s long history of bovine TB infection in its livestock, dating back to the early 1960s. It has had continuous infected status since 1972, the longest in New Zealand.

Bovine TB is a persistent disease. This milestone has been achieved by large scale possum control to remove the infection from the possum population.

This has been coupled with a comprehensive livestock testing programme, patiently reducing the numbers of infected animals through on-farm skin and blood testing.

OSPRI chief executive Sam McIvor says Molesworth’s journey to TB freedom is a staged process, and this is a significant step along the path to TB freedom.

"Pāmu and Molesworth people have been awesome partners in this eradication endeavor.

"While we have completed possum control in the area, we still have some ongoing surveillance work of both wildlife and livestock to confirm that TB is finally gone.

"The achievement is a massive one, for Pāmu, the dedicated people of Molesworth - especially manager Jim Ward - and all the OSPRI staff and their former colleagues from all those years back," Sam says.

Pāmu chief executive Mark Leslie says Pāmu seeks to innovate and ensure farming activities contribute positively to ecosystems and communities.

"The scale that Pāmu has enables us to drive innovation for the benefit of the wider industry and our operations at Molesworth are no exception. The station has been home to several significant research projects on the reduction and elimination of bovine TB and control has involved innovating and trying different approaches.

"I’d like to acknowledge Molesworth farm manager Jim Ward, who has been on farm for over half the period of infection. Jim has been a key driver of this status outcome but of course, it’s been a collaborative effort. The credit for this tremendous success goes to all the people and organisations who have worked for a very long time to make this TB result a reality," Mark says.

Background

Molesworth Station is managed by state farmer Pāmu (Landcorp Farming Limited), and is New Zealand’s largest working farm, spanning 180,787 hectares in the mountainous landscape of the northern South Island high country.

OSPRI works with the farming industry to manage animal disease in New Zealand. OSPRI manages the TBfree programme on behalf of the New Zealand government and the farming industry.

Watch the video here: Coming up the home straight - A high country journey to TB freedom in New Zealand

© Scoop Media