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The Muster- Grant McMaster: TB IS No Laughing Matter · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Grant Disaster, McMaster Farms on the edges of, well, the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: edge anyway, of Lake Wakatipa, Closeburn Station, joins us once again.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Grant. The song's called Stuck Inside a Cloud.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: How much cloud have you got in the sky up
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: there in central Otago?
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Oh, good afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody. A bit of
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: cloud up high. It's normally up high, I suppose. But
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: all the white stuff, the pilots will be able to
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: tell you what it was. But it's 11 degrees here
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: at the moment. We haven't had rain since we spoke
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: last week. And, you know, the grass is growing a
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: bit and things are drying out. Not as bad as
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: our mates down in Southland. Feel for all you guys
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: and girls down there. It's not an easy time, is it? But, yeah,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: the rain has stopped now. I think there's a bit
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: more forecast tomorrow. But, yeah, it's certainly a good week
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: with no rain and warm temperatures. Like it was 17
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: degrees yesterday and it's 11 degrees 11 now.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: You've got the conveyor rolling on the farm later this week.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: We'll have Towner's tongue rolling along, I know that, when
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: he comes up. But, yeah, so that's next Wednesday he
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: comes up and we'll put all the ewes across it
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: and give them their five and ones courtesy of RB Rural.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: No doubt he'll have another great pack for me and
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: rip me off somewhere. But, no, he'll bring the stuff
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: up from Smithy and we'll do that and do a
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: bit of tagging and what have you and then we'll
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: spread them far and wide. So, yeah, a bit of
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: a pick there to say now. Got all the ewes,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: all the ewes are now muffed up off the hill
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: blocks that have just been sort of scattered around through
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the poor weather. And on the flats, so got that
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: done this morning. They'll get on to a bit of
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: barley and baitage now for the last week. And that'll
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: help them and it'll make me feel good as well,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: I suppose. So, yeah, and then it'll be spreading out
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: and the fun begins again.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Have you seen much regrowth.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: On the hills? Yeah, there has been. And over at
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: the hills, yes, they've got the heifers that have been
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: feeding banners, those heifers that calved early. And so we
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: got them out of their block and now they're on
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: some nice grass that we've got growing over there. So
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: it's always a bit more, you know, it's always a
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: bit forward over there. And I think this is the
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: last week for the hoggets on the crops. So that
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: bit of the management plan's worked all right, Andy. The
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: crop's been good. The hoggets are all right. The paddocks
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: are coming away and the heifers are pleased to be
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: on a bit of grass.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Well, as Hannibal Smith of the A-Team once said, I
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: love it when a plan comes together.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. What are you looking at, sucker?
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Siri, you've got a message today to share regarding tuberculosis
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and TB.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, TB, I just, you know, there's been quite a
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: few articles of late in the Farmers Weekly and other
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: magazines with the, you know, the threat of forestry and various,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and wild deer and pigs becoming more prevalent and possums and,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: you know, the threat of TB is always there and
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: there's been quite a few articles on it. But I
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: can actually speak for firsthand with TB because back in,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Back on the 10th of April, I'll never forget that date,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I'd been up to the Mara dog trials, had a
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: couple of runs there, thought I had a good day,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: and coming out of the gate I got a call
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: from Osprey, the head veterinarian there, Mr Kevin Cruz, to
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: say we'd sent cold cows, they went up to Curry Currie,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: which is up in Greymouth, to be killed, and one
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: went down the chute and they believed it was TB, so...
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: That makes every muscle in your body clench quite hard,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: I can tell you that. So he said, look, it's,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: you know, this animal's gone down. It's got three lesions
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: in it. And, yeah, 99% sure it's TB. But we'll
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: let you know next week when we get further tests done. So,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: you know, he said, what do you do? He said, well,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: don't do anything at the moment. Just sit tight until
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: we know what's happening. So that's been the theory. And
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I'd just like to say that, you know, Osprey have
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: been really good to deal with because it's actually... It's
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: a bit of a kick in the ass, to be fair,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: and it's not a good feeling. You just, you know,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: until you know exactly what's happening, you think, well, you know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: how's this going to affect me, my neighbours? You know,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: that's one of the bigger things. So anyway, four or
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: five days later, the tests were in, and he said,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: I'll be coming down to see you. So he brought
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: him and an associate came down. I named them the
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Bomb Squad. They arrived at home and with all the information,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: and obviously I had a lot of questions, you know,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: where did it come from, how's it got here? He said,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: you know, we'll be working on this for quite a
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: few months, Grant. So he said, just, you know, one
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: step at a time type thing. So, you know, we'd
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: sold all our calves at the Omakau sales. So there
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: was 125 calves had gone from Southland to South Canterbury.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: So they had to be all recalled and had to
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: be tested. my neighbours, I rang them and said, look,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: this is what's happened. He felt a bit like a
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: bloody leper in a leper colony, to be fair. And
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: he felt guilty and all those things, not that it
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: was anything he'd been out to do on purpose. So, anyway,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: so what happened, all those calves were all the people
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: that bought those, you know, as I said, from throughout
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: the South Island. They were all contacted. Those calves were
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: all bought in and tested. They were all They were
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: all clear. So then we'd get our cows in and
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: test them. So tested them. There was 110 cows that
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: were there because the ones over at the hills were separate.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: So we tested those and read them on the Friday
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: and the three had come up with the positive, you know,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: the tail test. My TB man, he said that... I
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: think two of them will be okay, but one won't be. However,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: they bring in the, then the inspectors come in and
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I had to shoot those three cows and they autopsied them.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Had to get a guy in with a digger to
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: dig a hole because, you know, it's pretty, you know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: things like that spreading. However, they went through them and
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: autopsied them and none of those cows actually had TB.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: So that was a, that was a start. Then the
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: next step is you do a blood test. So the
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: skin test is about 80% effective. The blood test is 100%.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: And I said, well, why don't you just do the
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: blood test? First, you can't. You've got to give them
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: under the skin test to get the antibodies going. I
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: think they must put sort of tuberculin under to get
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: the reaction. So we did the blood test 10 days later,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: and cows come in again, scanned them, and only one
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: cow was positive. Again, the hit squad come in, and
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: that cow was slaughtered and autopsied, and she didn't have
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: TB either. So basically... all our records, so remembering the
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: calves are all done, there's also 850 close-burned cattle still alive,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: whether they're in feedlots or heifers that we sell each
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: year to our buyers and just guys that still had
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: stuff on board. So there was 850 cattle still within
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: the country and so they were all tested and they
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: all came back clear as well. So that was quite
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: a that was a sigh of relief there. So you
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: ask yourself, well, how come that one cow had TB,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: which she did, and it turned out she was infected,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: but she wasn't infectious. Now, we knew where that cow
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: had come from, and, you know, she came here as
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: a two-year-old. She'd been tested, but between there and three
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: years later, she had the TB. So, yeah, pretty, you know, Well,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: sort of scary times in a lot of ways because,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: you know, at one stage you think, you know, are
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: we having to get rid of all our cows? And,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: you know, those people that had mycoplasma or mycoplovis and
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: the thought of foot and mouth, you know, a lot
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: of people are worse off. And I think the thing
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: is that, you know, the TB, the NAIT system works.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: It's been in since 2012. And as long as you've
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: got all your information right and you do it, and
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: I stress to all you guys and girls out there,
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: for God's sake, keep up with it, because something like
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: this comes and it just makes a big difference. So
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: to have all that information there to go through, and
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: there's actually only 15 herds in the country at the
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: moment that are TB infected. I said that I'd always
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: wanted to be in a New Zealand 15, but not
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: for TB, so.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: As a result, the cows will be... We had a
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: test the other day. That's all good. They'll be tested
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: again when we mark the calves in December. And the
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: calves will have to be tested before they are sold
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: off farms. So that's, you know, that's been a pretty traumatic,
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: funny experience. A lot of... Well, you know, it's one
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: of those things that you think you're guilty and just
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: a hell of a feeling. But just a couple of...
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: And from the 1st to the 7th of August, that's
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: one week, there were 31,318 movements of cattle, you know,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: within the country. And so from January the 1st to
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: the 30th of June, there were 2,602 farms across the
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: country were tested for TB. These are areas that, you know,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: for the tests. And it completed, you know, it included 925,000.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: beef cows were 508,000 and 32,000 for deer. So it
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: just shows you that it is working and it is
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: thorough testing. And, um, you know, they, they, they work
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: on the areas that have TB that they know of,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: the odd hot area. And, um, they use algorithms and
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: all these fancy things to find out in areas that,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: you know, are just ticking along that, that they're pretty
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: sure that they know what's going on. So hard to
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: get your head around, but, uh, I can tell you,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I'm bloody grateful that, uh, our, um, our records are
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: up to date and accurate. And, um, and, uh, you know,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: we had, uh, Osprey there during the time. And as
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: I said, um, You couldn't have wished for better people
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: to work for than they work with and all very
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: understanding and just got the job done and sort of
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: did the steps and put your knees a bit more
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: than they probably were.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Good on you, Graham. I'd better leave it there, but
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: good to see you're on the other side of it.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if anyone's still awake, just keep your tests going and,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: you know, the system's there and when you need it,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: it certainly works. So, yeah, it's... Yeah, it's a bit
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: better than it was, and we've still got most of
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: our cattle, so that's a start.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Grant McMaster at Closeburn Station. The messaging around TB, testing, Nate, traceability,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: like Grant talked about before. Keep it up to date.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: His experience firsthand is proof, 100%. Laurie Patterson's up next
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: out of Groundswell, New Zealand.