New Zealand on verge of wiping out painful disease

New Zealand is on the verge of eradicating a painful disease from its herd of 10 million cattle after a four-year campaign that has cost hundreds of millions of dollars and resulted in more than 175,000 cows being killed.

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said Thursday that 271 farms had been cleared of Mycoplasma bovis and only a single farm in the country still had the bacterial disease. New Zealand would be the first country that has managed to wipe it out completely.

In an interview with The Associated Press, O’Connor said it had been a traumatic process for affected farmers. If an infection was found on a farm, even healthy cows were killed to ensure the disease was stamped out.

“I’d say every farmer was very unhappy about having to see their herd be culled,” O’Connor said. “These are people who have strong connections, commitment and investment in their animals.”