OPSRI has extended their reporting deadlines and offered advice on animal movement control areas to farmers in regions impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle:
Question 1: Will farmers need to do a couple of NAIT movements if their road is washed out and yards are out of action and they have to walk cattle for ages to yards to get them trucked out to the works, sale or to grazing?
Answer:
No, as long as the animals are:
- not held in the yards or associated paddocks overnight, and
- are not mingling with other animals from a different NAIT location, and
- the sole purpose is to load the animals on to a truck.
The movement would be from their NAIT Location to the receiving location.
TBFree programme
Question 2: What about if TB movement control areas are affected?
Answer 2:
Animals can move out of the affected MCA (movement controlled area) without premovement testing, as immediate animal welfare concerns take precedent over TB movement requirements. To manage the TB risk OSPRI will issue a permit to move without pre movement testing -please call 0800482463 to arrange a permit to provide details of the movement (number of stock and destination).
In the event a farmer does not have the ability to communicate with OSPRI prior to the movement occurring the permit will be issued retrospectively. This will require the farmer to call OSPRI 0800482463 as soon as practical. OSPRI will assess the timing and testing requirements and follow up with farmers involved at the appropriate time.
The Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa regions are both impacted by the weather event and contain MCAs – see Map attached (red = MCA) Farmers can use this map to identify whether they are in an MCA:
