Although a serious but decreasing health issue for New Zealand agriculture, Tb has not been reported in alpaca in New Zealand in the last two decades.
For members attending shows, exporting alpaca and veterinarians, more information is provided below.
TB TESTING
Alpaca in NZ are not required to be tested unless attending shows or before being exported. For alpaca being exported MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) undertake Tb testing while the export alpaca are in isolation at an approved facility.
Alpaca shows in NZ are usually run at A&P shows or on their grounds and as the AANZ and A&P Societies are affiliated to the Royal Agricultural Society [RAS] they are bound by their regulations which require all alpaca attending shows to come from herds that have been Tb tested.
Follow this link, enter your post code and you will see your revised TB testing frequency for your area: Disease control area map | OSPRI
For members intending to show alpaca please contact your vet to arrange a "Whole Herd" test as per the attached protocol.
CURRENT ALPACA ASSOCIATION NEW ZEALAND VOLUNTARY TB TESTING PROTOCOL
Effective Date 9th February 2021
This protocol has been developed to align with the OSPRI Tb testing protocol for Cattle, using the OSPRI Tb Disease Control Areas.
The above protocol applies to the situations below as a minimum requirement:
- Alpacas entered and attending any A&P or AANZ endorsed shows.
- Breeders involved in exporting alpacas overseas where a veterinarian declaration is required for confirming that farms supplying export animals have been free of Tb during the 3 years prior to alpacas being exported.
- Movement of alpacas between alpaca farms that require Tb free status for the above situations. Therefore, if agisting females or stud males from another farm, confirmation of a whole herd Tb test would be required by both the breeder agisting these animals and the breeder bringing these alpacas for agistment. This would include males carrying out short term mobile matings with females from another breeder
INFORMATION FOR VETS
Throughout the AANZ Voluntary Tb Testing Scheme consultation with the membership over the past few years it became clear that one of the key issues for members was accessibility of suitably trained vets to Tb test alpacas.
In 2020 the Tb Working Group worked with Ben Davidson, Rangiora Vets to create an educational resource for vets on how to Tb Test an alpaca, You can click on the link below to be taken to the page.
We also created a standardised Tb Test Receipt for use nationwide. This allows for consistency in reporting nationwide and is now the only approved form for the AANZ Voluntary Tb Testing Scheme.
Both of these initiatives have been very well received by vets and breeders, and has contributed to a broader availability of testers nationwide.
For veterinarians, instruction on how to TB test alpacas please view this video produced by Ben Davidson, Rangiora Vets
