USDA’s Johne’s Disease Control Program Summarized in Free Booklet

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (February 24, 2011)—Dairy and beef producers, veterinarians and others involved in the dairy and beef industries wanting to learn more about Johne’s disease prevention and control are encouraged to request a new 16-page booklet available from the National Johne’s Education Initiative and the National Institute for Animal Agriculture. The new booklet—which is free and written in easy-to-understand language—outlines the basics of the USDA’s recently updated Program Standards for the Voluntary Bovine Johne’s Disease Control Program.

“The abridged version of the Voluntary Bovine Johne’s Disease Control Program highlights three areas: education to inform producers about the cost of Johne’s disease and to provide information about management strategies to prevent, control and eliminate the disease; management to help producers establish good management strategies on their farms; and herd testing and classification to demonstrate the level of risk of Johne’s disease on the farm,” states Dr. Elisabeth Patton, chairman of U.S. Animal Health Association’s Johne’s Disease Committee.

“The most significant change in the updated Voluntary Bovine Johne’s Disease Control Program is the new six-level testing classification system, and this information is covered in the abridged free booklet. Producers who participate in the testing component of the Program will find a new six-level classification system that has specific criteria for different sizes of herds: 1-99 head, 100-199 head, 200-299 head and more than 300 head. A significant amount of thought and work went into the development of this new six-level classification system to address concerns with the previous system and to improve the accuracy of herd classification.”

Dr. Patton explains that the adjusted Voluntary Bovine Johne’s Disease Control Program has been developed in cooperation with the National Johne’s Disease Working Group and the Johne’s disease committee of the United States Animal Health Association, State Veterinarians, and industry representatives. The program has been approved by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Veterinary Services (VS).

The free 16-page booklet was developed for USDA/APHIS/VS by the National Johne’s Education Initiative and underwritten by NJEI and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

A personal copy of the abridged booklet can be obtained from your State Designated Johne’s Coordinator, online at www.johnesdisease.org or from the National Institute for Animal Agriculture by calling (719) 538-8843.