File photo. TB freedom in Hari Hari cattle brings the total number of infected herds across the country down to 12, the lowest number on record. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A huge milestone has been reached in the TB eradication programme with the West Coast area of Hari Hari being declared TB free.
TB infection in cattle and deer herds is spread mainly by possums and can cause serious production losses and animal welfare issues.
A quarter, or 17 herds, in the small farming community were infected with TB.
Ospri is the group tasked with eradicating the disease, and chief executive Sam McIvor said a huge effort haD gone into getting that down to zero.
"This has been an area that's been a battle for quite a long time actually, but farmers Ospri and the wider community have worked together to get to this point.
"Over the past 30 years, there have been outbreaks in the farmland of Hari Hari following a five to ten year cycle. Prior to the 2019 outbreak, there were no infected herds for four years.
"Really the challenge is how we keep it at bay in the future and that's down to ongoing TB testing and making sure if it does pop up we act quickly."
McIvor said pest control would continue in the area to ensure possums did not reinfect herds.
"Our surveillance of wildlife in the surrounding native bush shows us that the infection problem may remain in the Upper Whanganui, and that we do need to do another round of aerial treatment there to clean up the remaining infection, whilst also maintaining low possum numbers across the whole area.
"TB is a resilient bug, and we need to keep our foot on the pedal to wipe it out."
Getting the disease on farm has a huge impact, McIvor said.
"Obviously we slaughter infected animals, but then there is movement restrictions on those farms, so anything that's moving has to go straight to the works so that puts a big imposition on farmers and their farming system."
TB freedom in Hari Hari cattle brings the total number of TB-infected herds across the country down to 12, the lowest number on record. This compares to 1995 when there were an estimated 1700 TB-infected herds.