Latest news with #OSPRI
Scoop
30-06-2025
- Health
- Scoop
OSPRI Expects Smooth Transition To In-House TB Testing
The move to bring bovine TB testing in-house at OSPRI officially starts today, as a team of 37 skilled and experienced technicians begin work with the disease eradication agency. Another 10 seasonal field technicians start later in the year. OSPRI took over the TBfree national eradication programme in 2013, and testing was done by AsureQuality. OSPRI general manager disease control, planning and implementation, Simon Andrew, says it now makes sense for the testing to be done by OSPRI, and the transition should be smooth for farmers and the livestock industry. "Testing in-house is a very important step for OSPRI, as an integrated disease control eradication agency," he says. "We're looking forward to carrying out end-to-end control of TB. "We've recruited a strong team of technicians. The expertise they bring will expand our capability and add value to our other programmes. "Testing in-house will bring us closer to farmers, which means we can be more responsive to what farmers need from testing, and from OSPRI." In any one year, a large proportion of the national livestock population is skin tested for TB. The programme undertook about 1.7 million TB tests in the 2023-24 year. "We know farmers and our funders, MPI and livestock industry bodies Beef+Lamb NZ, DairyNZ and the Deer Industry Association, want to see us make more efficient use of the levies paid for the TBfree programme," Simon says. "We are anticipating the cost savings we gain from doing testing in-house will allow us to increase the investment made into possum control, which is the key to achieving TB eradication." Farmers don't need to change what they do. Routine testing will be scheduled when required and to go through normal channels to book a pre-movement test. Along with TBfree, OSPRI also manages NAIT, the national system for tracing cattle and deer, and MBfree, the national eradication programme for Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis).
Scoop
12-06-2025
- Health
- Scoop
New Legal Requirement To Record Raw Milk Movement
Press Release – OSPRI New Zealand Disease eradication agency OSPRI is alerting farmers to new legal requirements which apply from 1 July 2025 to keep records of the movement of raw milk on and off farm. An ongoing risk in the fight to eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis has led to some new requirements for raw milk destined to be used as cattle feed. Disease eradication agency OSPRI is alerting farmers to new legal requirements which apply from 1 July 2025 to keep records of the movement of raw milk on and off farm. OSPRI's national manager, Mycoplasma bovis, Mackenzie Nicol, says it's known that M. bovis can spread between properties when raw milk is used for cattle feed, so, from 1 July, the new National Pest Management Plan for requires anyone receiving raw milk on to a farm with the intention of feeding it to cattle, to accurately record it. 'Farmers and industry have worked so hard to eradicate what we are doing with this requirement is all about closing one of the last loops, where we know there is risk of disease spread. It makes good sense to be vigilant. 'We know this change will affect businesses transporting raw milk to be used for cattle feed, the farmers receiving it, and will rely on dairy processing operators offering up information about the milk they supply. 'Luckily most of this information is already recorded – so the requirement should fit with good farm biosecurity practices,' Mackenzie says. To help with the record-keeping, OSPRI has created a template form which can be downloaded from its website. 'When you use our form, you'll be noting down all the information we need to collect, like the date and time of delivery, where the raw milk came from, how it got to your farm and how much was delivered. 'It would also be worthwhile to make notes on sales invoices or receipts for raw milk purchases, the farm diary, or a driver's logbook. 'We need to do the best we can to keep track of all the risks we know of when it comes to extremely tough diseases to fight, like Mackenzie says. Recording these movements could also play an important role in containing and limiting the spread of other infectious diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease or bovine viral diarrhoea.
Scoop
12-06-2025
- Health
- Scoop
New Legal Requirement To Record Raw Milk Movement
An ongoing risk in the fight to eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis has led to some new requirements for raw milk destined to be used as cattle feed. Disease eradication agency OSPRI is alerting farmers to new legal requirements which apply from 1 July 2025 to keep records of the movement of raw milk on and off farm. OSPRI's national manager, Mycoplasma bovis, Mackenzie Nicol, says it's known that M. bovis can spread between properties when raw milk is used for cattle feed, so, from 1 July, the new National Pest Management Plan for requires anyone receiving raw milk on to a farm with the intention of feeding it to cattle, to accurately record it. "Farmers and industry have worked so hard to eradicate what we are doing with this requirement is all about closing one of the last loops, where we know there is risk of disease spread. It makes good sense to be vigilant. "We know this change will affect businesses transporting raw milk to be used for cattle feed, the farmers receiving it, and will rely on dairy processing operators offering up information about the milk they supply. "Luckily most of this information is already recorded - so the requirement should fit with good farm biosecurity practices," Mackenzie says. To help with the record-keeping, OSPRI has created a template form which can be downloaded from its website. "When you use our form, you'll be noting down all the information we need to collect, like the date and time of delivery, where the raw milk came from, how it got to your farm and how much was delivered. "It would also be worthwhile to make notes on sales invoices or receipts for raw milk purchases, the farm diary, or a driver's logbook. "We need to do the best we can to keep track of all the risks we know of when it comes to extremely tough diseases to fight, like Mackenzie says. Recording these movements could also play an important role in containing and limiting the spread of other infectious diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease or bovine viral diarrhoea.
