The Effects Of M. Bovis -- August 2018

The effects of mycoplasma bovis continue to ripple through communities, making itself felt far beyond the farm gates of the unfortunate few whose herds have tested positive. These people quite rightly attract the bulk of the media attention for, through no fault of their own, they are facing huge stress levels, devastating stock losses and an uncertain financial future.

One of the side effects of M. bovis is that here in the South Island 4-day old Friesian calf prices have taken a tumble. Calf buyers have backed out of the market, their reluctance to rear calves this season fuelled by a number of factors: fewer contracts available for 100kg calves, milk powder is expensive, cheap penicillin milk is off limits and there is the fear that the person you buy from could test positive for the disease.

Calf club days and fund raisers, community events and the life blood of some clubs, have been cancelled up and down the country. Some smaller ventures like the one run by Mid Canterbury Rugby Union have found a way to go ahead, ensuring the annual injection of some $25,000 into junior rugby continues. Larger ones however, like that run by IHC, have been put on hold at a cost of well over a million dollars to the organisation.

I had the opportunity to speak to the IHC Calf Scheme organisers before they made their decision public and was blown away by their compassion, decency and sheer desire to do the right thing. During that conversation I kept focusing on the money they were missing out on, but that never factored into their decision to suspend the event this season. Farmers, they reasoned, had been backing them for 30 years now and it was only right that IHC did what they could to protect the industry that had shown them unwavering support for so long. Yes it was a big financial blow, but a bigger blow would be to facilitate the spread of the disease.

I tweeted about IHC’s decision and said I’d still rear the two calves I’d pledged and donate the proceeds, urging other farmers to do the same. The response from the farming community was universally positive with some continuing to rear calves and others pledging a “virtual calf”, a $300 donation.

It wasn’t just the farming community that was moved by IHC’s selfless call, North Island teacher Jacky Braid saw my tweet and resolved that twitter should pitch in and help, so she set up a bank account and a goal of buying a virtual calf and asked for donations.

With the first virtual calf easily bought Jacky kept the ball rolling and donations poured in from Kiwis all over the world. Soon she had her second, third, fourth and fifth virtual calves.

She didn’t stop though and set her sights on seven virtual calves, a total of $2100 for IHC, and she fittingly reached that goal on her birthday (which also happens to be mine).

I like to think that with support like this the financial impact of IHC’s decision will be negligible and maybe, just maybe, that urban/rural divide isn’t quite as big as I thought it was.