Beef and drystock cattle surveillance for Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis)

Background screening

Under the M. bovis programme, we carry out background screening of beef and drystock herds throughout New Zealand. This involves: 

• on-farm sampling
• sampling at meat works.

How does M. bovis surveillance work for beef and drystock cattle?

As part of routine or targeted on-farm sampling, veterinarians and veterinary technicians take blood samples from cattle on beef and drystock properties. They do this when cattle are yarded for other routine farm management procedures such as pregnancy testing, drenching or vaccinating. 
 
At meat works, blood samples are collected at random from beef cattle during the slaughter process. This occurs year-round at meat works nationwide.

What do the screening results tell us?

We use an M. bovis ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test. This looks for the presence of M. bovis antibodies that cattle produce to fight infection.  

A detect result indicates that antibodies are present but doesn’t confirm infection. It also means our team will do a risk assessment to decide whether further on-farm sampling and investigation is required to determine infection status.