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14 Practice makes perfect for Dodson Vol 22 No 28, July 22, 2024
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Asure exit leaves hole in Tb testing TECHNOLOGY
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Disease
FARMER and community leader who lost three-quarters of his herd to Tb a decade ago is aghast at the decision made by AsureQuality to drop its Tb testing contract with national livestock tracing body OSPRI. AsureQuality has announced that after a strategic review of its services, it has informed OSPRI it will not be applying for the contract at the end of February 2025. There is no indication of a replacement company to take over national herd testing obligations at this stage.
What this is saying to me is that this is bureaucracy gone mad. Stu Husband Farmer For its part, OSPRI has cited the Tb control programme’s success in significantly reducing Tb cases in NZ , and the implementation of a risk-based testing regime meant the volume of required testing has decreased. It said it is exploring options to maintain uninterrupted Tb testing services after the conclusion of AsureQuality’s contract.
But Waikato farmer and former Waikato Regional Council councillor Stu Husband was gobsmacked at the news, not only at the uncertainty for farmers and livestock owners after next February but also at AsureQuality’s move out of the role altogether. “What this is saying to me is that this is bureaucracy gone mad. Tb is still out there and if we do not maintain vigilance and testing, we will be back to the same position as in the 1970s and ’80s. “It is imperative to continue TBFree work. “There is a huge amount of public good in this work that a government-owned company simply cannot just decide it will step aside from on grounds of a ‘strategic review’.” It is possible a privately owned company may step into the breach, as VeritAg did for the M bovis programme. “But a private company will have its own shareholders to account to. It’s easy for AsureQuality to focus on reducing costs, but this is one of those cogs in the system we need. The cost of it failing is simply so much more.” Experience with Tb is a bitter one for Husband, who had to see 300 of his cows and young stock slaughtered in 2013 after an outbreak. He maintains the risks are higher now than ever for an increase in Tb outbreaks.
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Frozen in thought Maggie the dog pauses to take in her picturesque surroundings during a walk in a hoar frost in Galloway, near Alexandra in Central Otago, last week. Parts of the central South Island spent much of the week in freezing temperatures, creating some wellphotographed scenery. Photo: Beth Hamilton
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NEWS 3
NEWS 7
OPINION 13
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