Port Chalmers dairy farmer Merrall MacNeille says he will keep his herd of dairy cows, despite possibly not being permitted to sell their milk for six years.
Mr MacNeille was ordered last week to stop selling raw milk after a tuberculosis-positive heifer, which was not part of the milking herd, was discovered at the farm.
Although he had no issue with that heifer being slaughtered, Mr MacNeille said he was asking the Ministry for Primary Industries to give him some documentation to provide proof for a six-year farm shutdown.
If Tb tests on the herd remained negative for a year, he would get his herd status back, which would allow him to sell raw milk in five years from that point, he said.
"It seems a bit draconian. This was a death penalty for my herd for not, I think, a disastrous public health situation,'' he said.
Mr MacNeille, who has a 26-strong herd, has been selling raw milk from the farm since 2003 and there were now ``hundreds'' of customers. Although he did not keep records, he estimated he was selling about 250 litres a day.
As the cows would be out of production for so long, a distressed Mr MacNeille had made the decision to book them in to be slaughtered at a freezing works.
He later reversed his decision, saying he would keep them as long as he could feed them and, if he could not feed them, then he would bury them on the property.
Since publicity about the situation, supporters had organised financial contributions to go towards feeding the herd.
