Program status report
The UK has developed a commercially driven framework for the control of Johne’s disease in dairy herds. The program started in 2010 with a prolonged education program to secure farmer and veterinarian engagement and has now in the second year of an exciting phase where farmers and vets work together to develop a written agreed plan of action to manage JD effectively.
The program is managed by the Action Group on Johne’s , which brings together all relevant industry organizations that have an interest in managing Johne’s, including vets, labs, farmers’ unions and milk processors.
6 control strategies have been defined by the group and over 1,153 veterinarians have completed online training and certification allowing them to deliver the program.
Each farmer must work with their accredited Johne’s vet to conduct a risk assessment, undertake surveillance to assess the status of the herd and define an agreed control plan from one of the six strategies available.
The farmer pays for any testing and consultancy advice, the milk processor encourages or in some cases insists on compliance and the vet works with the farmer to reduce the incidence of disease and signs a certificate of compliance which is returned to the processor for collation. There is no subsidy for testing or veterinary work.
20 milk processors are members of the NJMP representing 64% of Great Britain’s milk supply. 16 processors have achieved 90% compliance and 10 have achieved 100% compliance. 56% of the UK milk supply are effectively assured by the framework. It is estimated a further 20% of UK farmers have a robust plan in place however their processor may not choose to be a member of the program.
For more details of the program visit Action Johne’s.