From July 1 it will be a legal requirement to keep records of the movement of raw milk to and from farms.
From July 1 transporters and farmers receiving raw milk will be legally required to record the movement.
OSPRI’s national manager for Mycoplasma bovis, Mackenzie Nicol, said the new requirement is part of the fight against Mycoplasma bovis.
Nicol said it’s known that M bovis can spread between properties when raw milk is used for cattle feed.
As part of the new National Pest Management Plan for M bovis, anyone receiving raw milk onto a farm with the intention of feeding it to cattle will have to record it.
This requirement will close one of the last possible loophole for the disease to spread, Nicol said.
“We know this change will affect businesses transporting raw milk to be used for cattle feed and the farmers receiving it, and will rely on dairy processing operators offering up information about the milk they supply.
“Most of this information is already recorded. The requirement should fit with good farm biosecurity practices,” Mackenzie said.
OSPRI has created a template record-keeping form that can be downloaded from its website.
Information such as date and time of delivery, the origin of the raw milk, how it was transported onto the farm and volume is important.
Recording these movements could also play an important role in containing and limiting the spread of infectious diseases such as foot and mouth disease or bovine viral diarrhoea. Nicol said.
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