SHEEP: PREVENTION - JOHNE'S INFORMATION CENTER

Care in purchasing flock replacements and good hygiene are important to Johne's disease prevention.

	Prevention pays! Lambs should be kept away from infected adults and adult manure that may be contaminated with the organism. Learn the Johne's disease infection or test status of the source herd for any sheep you are considering for purchase. Should you need to hand-rear lambs, use pasteurized milk.

The most common way that the infection is introduced to a flock is through purchase of an animal from an infected flock. Prior to purchase, the optimal course is to learn the test-status of the source flock and to test the sheep that are to be purchased. If the prevalence of M. paratuberculosis infection is not known, the best most purchasers can do is to closely assess the body condition of all the adult animals in the source herd, discuss the clinical history of the flock over the past few years with seller and the seller's veterinarian if possible and test the animal to be purchased by AGID or fecal culture. Results for the test should be received prior to introducing the animal to the new flock.