This year has got off to a rough start for the primary sector, with extreme weather in many parts of the country and four more confirmed cases of M.bovis. B+LNZ, along with other organisations, has a number of resources to help farmers as they deal with these adverse events.
Weather-wise, 2018 has got off to a tumultuous start. Floods, droughts, severe gales and lightning strikes have affected many parts of the country.
Mycoplasma bovis has also been detected on three more South Island farms, bringing the total number of infected properties nationwide to 21. The Ministry for Primary Industries is carrying out extensive testing in an effort to contain and eradicate this disease.
There are a number of support channels and resources available to farmers affected by weather, biosecurity breaches and other adverse events and we encourage you to make use of them. Many have been designed to help you make informed decisions while others contain management advice and strategies from farmers and industry experts.
Drought
- Extreme Dry Management Toolkit
This comprehensive booklet is laid out in three sections: Leading into extreme dry; as the dry intensifies; and recovery from extreme dry. In this way, you can cut to the section that is
relevant to you at a particular point in time. There is also search functionality and further reading links throughout the document. - For a range of drought management resources visit: https://beeflambnz.com/news-views/extreme-dry-management
- Federated Farmers’ feedline is open for offers and requests for feed for all drought-affected farmers – members and non-members: http://www.fedfarm.org.nz/FFPublic/Resources/Feed_Available_for_Drought_Affected_Farmers.aspx or call 0800 327 646 and select option 2.
Flood
- If you have been affected by floods, this page contains phone numbers and links to websites and organisations that can provide help: https://beeflambnz.com/news-views/flood-support
- For information about saltwater inundation: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/funding-rural-support/adverse-events/dealing-with-floods/farms-and-seawater-flooding/
Mycoplasma bovis
- For more information about this disease and what farmers can do to protect their own businesses from this disease visit: https://beeflambnz.com/news-views/advice-farmers-mycoplasma-bovis and https://www.mpi.govt.nz/protection-and-response/responding/alerts/mycoplasma-bovis/