'Test and Control Program Three' emplaced for Johne's disease has failed to stop it from spreading - Cowsmo

‘Test and Control Program Three’ emplaced for Johne’s disease has failed to stop it from spreading

Victoria’s cattle industry is looking to dramatically change its management of bovine Johne’s disease after a report found the current system is not working.

The Cattle Compensation Committee has released a review, it commissioned, of the bovine Johne’s disease management strategies for Victorian cattle herds.

It happens to coincide with a national review of BJD management, conducted by Animal Health Australia.

At a recent meeting in Sydney, stud cattle producers from around Australia voiced their anger that quarantining of properties and restrictions on stud stocks sales is sending them broke.

Cattle producers in Victoria want to take the stigma away from Johne’s disease.

Victoria is seen by the rest of Australia as having endemic Johne’s disease in dairy cattle.

BJD is a fatal wasting disease of cattle but often does not show until the cow is five-years-old by which time the cow has shed masses of the mycobacterium paratuberculosis, spreading the disease.

Victoria concedes that its Test and Control Program Three is simply not working.

“Particularly in dairy herds it’s not reducing the levels of infection within the herds as the previous scheme, the TCP1 (Test and Control Program) scheme had done so,” said the chief Vet of Victoria Dr Charles Milne.

“It’s not as effective as it could be because the number of animals being tested was a smaller number.

“It was to be more cost effective, but the outcome has not been what was hoped.”

Just eight per cent of Victoria’s cattle herds were involved in testing for BJD.

“The reason why it was failing was dairy farmers weren’t seeing it as a good way forward because of the number of years you would have to participate in the program, and the possibility of being reinfected and falling down with the disease,” said Chris Wallace-Smith the chair of the Cattle Compensation Committee, which set up the inquiry into BJD management.

“We felt we’ll need to test earlier, to have a better chance of progressing the control of the disease, and leading to the elimination of the disease on your property. There is a stigma attached to diagnosis of the cattle herd.

“I feel we need to destigmatise the disease; we’ve got ovine Johne’s, bovine Johne’s and now the bison strain.

“We need to have universal agreement that it’s called Johne’s disease.

“We need to destigmatise the whole disease and have risk based trading.”

Herd Health veterinary consultant Dr Richard Shepherd conducted the review and calculated how much Johne’s disease was costing the dairy farmer.

“The cost of BJD has been confused in a lot of areas because of the regulatory impact, so I thought let’s strip it back to be like any other disease.

“I can say looking at a typical 250 to 300 cow dairy herd, with average loss of cows of two per cent a year, the average loss would be between $15,000 to $25,000 a year from profit,” said Dr Shepherd.

“We now know the maximum amount of money a dairy farmer can spend on managing BJD in their herd if a magic wand came along.

“How much money would a dairy farmer spend to get back $25,000 a year? That’s up to them, but at least they have the information.”

Dr Shepherd said if a producer with BJD suffered a loss of $50 per cow per year, that means they could spend a maximum of $25 per cow a year in trying to control it.

To be worthwhile it has to eliminate clinical disease from the herd.

“It’s the equivalent of a good family holiday a year, how much are you prepared to invest to get that back?”

The review in Victoria will continue with dairy farmer meetings around the state, coinciding with the national review of BJD management being handled by Animal Health Australia.

 

Source: ABC Rural

 

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