150,000 cows to be killed

The Herald reports:

More than 150,000 cattle will be culled in a world-first bid to eradicate cattle disease Mycloplasma bovis (M. Bovis).

The Government says it has reached an agreement with farming sector leaders to attempt to eradicate the disease from New Zealand.

The cull, of around 126,000 in addition to the 26,000 already underway, will take place over one to two years.

Hopefully the cull will work. Sadly there is a real possibility that 150,000 cattle will be killed and the disease will not be eradicated.

The Government will meet 68 per cent of the cost and Dairy NZ and Beef and Lamb New Zealand will meet 32 per cent.

I’m not against some Government assistance but I do wonder whether something like this was insurable against.

Ardern said to put the cull into context, there were one million animals in the national dairy herd.

That’s 15% of the national herd to be killed. Not insignificant.

UPDATE: The quoted figure is wrong. The dairy herd is 6.5 million.