Welcome to the Johne's Program

Johne's Voluntary Program with KDA

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture offers a voluntary Johne's program for producers who wish to control and eliminate Johne's Disease from their herd.  The Management Agreement Plan (MAP) is an agreement between the producer, herd veterinarian and KDA that must be entered into prior to testing herds.

The mission statement of the Kentucky Dairy Development Council (KDDC) states its goal is to increase the profitability for the Kentucky dairy producer and to foster the growth and development of Kentucky’s dairy industry.  There are two key words here, producer and industry.  One cannot survive without the support of the other.  That is where the KDA, Division of Animal Health would like to collaborate with you and help you control this disease.  It is a completely voluntary program and you may withdraw at any time.  The goals of the program are education, herd management and ultimately herd testing and classification. 

Johne's Disease

Johne's disease (pronounced "yo-knees") is a contagious, chronic and usually fatal infection that affects primarily the small intestine of ruminants. All ruminants are susceptible to Johne's disease. Johne's disease is caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, hardy bacteria related to the agents of leprosy and tuberculosis. The disease is worldwide in distribution. 

Signs of Johne's disease include weight loss and diarrhea with a normal appetite. Several weeks after the onset of diarrhea, a soft swelling may occur under the jaw (bottle jaw). Bottle jaw or intermandibular edema is due to protein loss from the bloodstream into the digestive tract.

Signs are rarely evident until two or more years after the initial infection, which usually occurs shortly after birth. Animals are most susceptible to the infection in the first year of life. Newborns most often become infected by swallowing small amounts of infected manure from the birthing environment or udder of the mother.  In addition, newborns may become infected while in the uterus or by swallowing bacteria passed in milk and colostrum. 

Animals exposed at an older age, or exposed to a very small dose of bacteria at a young age, are not likely to develop clinical disease until they are much older than two years.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/johnes/

Johne's Management Practices

The bacteria excreted in the feces can contaminate soil and water (it can survive over a year outside the animal) which is then ingested by other animals in the herd. Theories also show that cows in the later stages of the disease can transmit it via colostrum and milk.  Therefore, as a management practice, only feed colostrum from test negative older dams. Ideally colostrum should be fed from one cow to one calf. 

Some basic prevention strategies are:

  • Calves, lambs, kids, etc. should be born in a clean environment.
  • Reduce the newborns exposure to manure from adult animals by separation when possible.
  • Avoid manure contamination of feed by using feed bunks and not using the same equipment to handle feed and move manure.
  • Avoid manure contamination of water sources were animals drink.
  • For natural colostrum needs of newborn animals, use colostrum from Johne's negative animals.
  • Do not pool colostrum.
  • Avoid natural nursing and milk feeding whenever possible.  Feed an artificial milk replacer or pasteurized milk instead of raw milk to supply the needs of newborns.  Never feed pooled milk or waste milk.
  • Thoroughly clean the udder and teats before collection of the colostrum to avoid manure contamination.
  • MAP (Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis) can survive up to a year in the environment so if possible, for pastures that have become contaminated, till the ground or graze using non replacement feeder cattle.
  • Identify all females in the herd.  Identify and remove, or keep separate all test positive animals.
  • Prevent infection from spreading by culling, or separating offspring of infected mothers as soon as possible.

Take extreme precaution when purchasing replacement cows.  Studies prove that the highest risk of infection comes from new herd additions.  There is a misconception that because a herd tests for Johnes, it is a contaminated herd and should be avoided.  Take a moment and consider the advantage here.  The herd being monitored can give you the history and level of advancement toward becoming a Johne’s test negative herd. A herd with no records does not prove anything in their standing with the disease.  Remember, if you purchase from a herd that has been testing for 3 years and is now reaching a low-risk status, his replacement stock are from a bio-secure environment that is leading him to achieve a Johne’s test negative status.

Testing Procedures / Results

During calendar year 2006, there were 102 dairy herds and 95 beef herds tested. Over 14,000 animals were tested from herds participating in the volunteer Johnes program.

Approximately 2.5% of the serology (Elisa) tests came back positive.  Thus showing an improvement over the 4.5% of positive Elisa tests reported as of December 2005.  Cultures are then done on the Elisa positives with a test result return of almost 37% being fecal positive (the fecal culture is the confirmatory test).

For more information contact program staff.