New Zealand to cull all cattle on disease infected properties

WELLINGTON, March 26 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has determined that all cattle on properties infected with the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis will be culled starting on Monday.

"The depopulation of entire herds on all 28 Infected Properties (IPs) in New Zealand is a critical measure to control the spread of the disease and we will be working closely with those farmers to plan how this will happen," MPI's response director Geoff Gwyn said in a statement.

"This will be a big job and won't happen overnight, but we'll be meeting with the affected farmers in the coming days to discuss the operation, develop the plans and talk through compensation," Gwyn said.

All IP farmers will be compensated for their verifiable losses. MPI continues to build its compensation team to make sure farmers are compensated as quickly as possible. Once farms are de-populated and cleaned, these farmers can start re-building a disease-free herd from scratch, he said.

"We understand this has been an incredibly difficult time for farmers while they wait for critical decisions to be made about managing and controlling this disease," Gwyn added.

"We are able to take this decision now because we are confident Mycoplasma bovis is not well established in New Zealand," he said, adding the disease is not widespread, but is limited to a network of farms connected by animal movements.

The MPI depopulated seven farms in December last year. Enditem