Bovine Tuberculosis
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Bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a serious disease that threatens herd health and New Zealand’s dairy and beef industries. TB control and eradication is a shared responsibility, led through the TBfree programme managed by OSPRI and strongly supported by DairyNZ. TBfree works to reduce and ultimately eliminate TB through targeted pest control, regular testing and surveillance, and movement controls where risk is higher. A risk based approach is being phased in, focusing effort where it will have the greatest impact. This approach considers wildlife risk, herd history and animal movements to guide testing and pest management decisions.
The control and eradication of bovine tuberculosis (TB) is a critical risk management initiative. It works to ensure TB does not pose a threat to the health of our cattle herds, those working with them or the viability of our dairy and beef export sectors.
DairyNZ is the majority industry investor in TBfree’s national tuberculosis (TB) control programme and this is the single largest investment from the milksolids levy.
Bovine TB National Pest Management Plan (TB plan)
TBfree (formerly Animal Health Board) manages the National Pest Management Plan for Bovine TB which aims to:
- Eradicate TB from New Zealand by meeting the objectives:
- TB freedom from cattle and deer herds by 2026
- TB freedom from possums by 2040
- Biological eradication by 2055.
- Maintain period prevalence below 0.2%.
TBfree New Zealand controls the disease through
- Pest management (possums mainly, but also ferrets, wild pigs and deer).
- Disease control (testing cattle and deer, and post-mortem surveillance at slaughter).
- Movement restrictions (applied to cattle and deer from some herds and locations).
The risk-based approach to TB control
To achieve the goal of eradication of TB from New Zealand, the TBfree programme is introducing new ways of running the TB testing and pest control programmes, based on risk. The changes, outlined below, will be phased in over time.
Risk-based testing
The new approach for TB testing will be based on more detailed risk assessments for herds to determine which herds require testing, how often and under what circumstances. The three key factors are:
- Location – risk from wildlife (mainly possums)
- History – residual risk of TB infection within the herd
- Movement – the number, source and type of movements into the herd.
TB testing.
Risk-based pest control
The new approach for controlling pests (mainly possums) will be based on three key factors:
- Risk to herds – areas that pose the most risk to herds getting infected because of the number of possums and presence of TB in wildlife
- Time – areas that will take significant time to eradicate (so control can be started early), and areas that will be relatively quick to eradicate (so they don’t regress if no control work is done)
- Infection rate – areas that are hotspots of TB infection.
Additional resources
Biosecurity farm plan
Resources
Biosecurity
Use this template to create your own farm biosecurity plan and strengthen preparedness for potential threats.
Biosecurity pre-purchase fillable checklist
Resources
Biosecurity
A biosecurity pre-purchase checklist for guidance.
Biosecurity visitor management plan
Resources
Biosecurity
Anyone coming onto your farm may pose a risk to the health of your staff or animals and could bring weeds and pests along for the ride. To reduce this risk, it’s important to set up some simple controls.
Biosecurity visitor sign (A4 version)
Resources
Biosecurity
Display this sign at the farm entrance to ensure visitors contact you before entering.
Biosecurity visitor sign (A3 version)
Resources
Biosecurity
Display this sign at the farm entrance to ensure visitors contact you before entering.
Biosecurity travel reference card
Resources
Biosecurity
Biosecurity risk assessment that covers visiting overseas farms, what to consider before returning to New Zealand, and what to do on arrival..
Additional links
OSPRI - About the TBfree programme
https://www.ospri.co.nz/our-programmes/the-tbfree-programme/about/
OSPRI - Controlling the possum population in NZ
https://www.ospri.co.nz/tb-and-pest-control/controlling-possum-population/
NAIT Overview
/biosecurity/biosecurity-support/nait/
How to clean and disinfect footwear on farm
https://vimeo.com/460421839
