NZ horse exports to Australia set to resume

An interim testing regime has been put in place that will allow the resumption of New Zealand horse exports to Australia, following a positive test in a North Island-based mare for one of the two protozoan species known to cause equine piroplasmosis.

The new testing protocols will incur an extra cost, as the additional testing requires specialist expertise. The required work will be subcontracted to an Australian laboratory with these skills.

The new regime, resulting from talks between agriculture officials on both sides of the Tasman, was agreed amid growing optimism that the positive test for Theileria equi returned by the imported mare will prove to be an isolated case.

The horse was imported to New Zealand by Cambridge Stud for breeding purposes in February last year.

Click here to read article as seen on the horsetalk.co.nz