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. By joining
the Johne’s Disease Management
Plan, you can obtain free testing to
aid with management of 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.
Currently Kentucky has approximately 115 dairy herds and 50 beef
herds enrolled in the program. The program
is federally funded and then managed
by the KDA. Federal reporting
is mandated and reconciled quarterly.
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.
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