The Irish Johne's Control Programme

Abstract

The Irish Johne's Control Programme (IJCP) provides a long-term approach to the voluntary control of Johne's disease (JD) in Ireland, strongly supported by Irish cattle industry leadership. It leverages the establishment of Animal Health Ireland for control of animal diseases not regulated by the European Union. The IJCP has four objectives: facilitate protection against spread of JD to uninfected farms; reduce the level of infection when present; assure markets of JD control in Ireland; and improve calf health and farm biosecurity. Key IJCP elements are an annual veterinary risk assessment and management plan (VRAMP), annual whole herd test (WHT) by ELISA on blood or milk samples with ancillary faecal PCR testing of ELISA reactors, and Targeted Advisory Service on Animal Health (TASAH) investigations of infected herds. There are pathways for assurance of herds with continuing negative tests and for management of test-positive herds. Herdowners are responsible for on-farm activities, and specifically-trained (approved) veterinary practitioners have a pivotal role as technical advisors and service providers. The programme is supported by training of veterinarians, performance of testing in designated laboratories, documentation of policies and procedures, innovative data management for herd and test activities and for programme administration, training, and broad communication and awareness activities. Tools and systems are refined to address emerging issues and enhance the value of the programme. An Implementation Group comprising industry, government and technical leaders sets strategic direction and policy, advised by a Technical Working Group. Shared funding responsibilities are agreed by key stakeholders until 2022 to support herds in the programme to complete requirements. Herd registrations have increased steadily to exceed 1,800. National bulk tank milk surveillance is also being deployed to identify and recruit test-positive herds with the expectation that they have a relatively high proportion of seropositive animals. The programme will continue to innovate and improve to meet farmer and industry needs.

Evaluation of the Thuringian Bovine Johne’s Disease Control Program—A Case Study

“…During these years, the population downsized by about 20% dairy cows and 4% of cows in beef cow-calf suckler herds [ 20 ]. This development was contrary to those described for other European countries like Ireland [ 14 ]. The average 305-day milk yield of the tested German Holstein dairy cows in Thuringia constituted 10,153 kg in 2020 [ 20 ].…”

“…By end of 2020, 43% of Thuringian dairy cows were enrolled in the program. This was in line with the level of participation achieved in other voluntary JD control programs, such as those in Ireland, Italy or Denmark [ 14 , 37 , 38 ]. Nonetheless, diminishing participation, particularly for recruiting new herds, is a current challenge.…”

“…The evaluation report of the program phase from 2008 to 2014 revealed a limited participation rate [ 12 ], which is typical for most voluntary control programs, where voluntary continuation of the program among producers is much lower than hoped for [ 9 ]. Even for the Irish Johne’s Control Program, which is one of the most ambitious and well-managed programs in Europe, diminishing participation for both the completion of annual requirement by registered herds and recruiting new herds was observed; about 18% of the dairy cows in Ireland are enrolled [ 14 ].…”

Ruminant health research – progress to date and future prospects, with an emphasis on Irish research

“…The IJCP enables participating herd owners to have increasing confidence in the absence of infection in their herds and to achieve significant control or elimination, and it underpins the quality of Irish dairy and beef produce in the international marketplace. The programme provides a long-term approach to the control of JD in Ireland (Gavey et al, 2021).…”

Modelling transmission of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis between Irish dairy cattle herds

“…For more than 90% of dairy herds, cows are housed during the winter, and most calves are born in spring [ 11 , 12 ]. Herds have the opportunity to join the voluntary Irish Johne’s Control Programme (IJCP), which has four objectives: (1) Enhance the ability of farmers to keep their herds free of Map , (2) Reduce the level of infection in infected herds, (3) Provide additional assurance to the marketplace, and (4) Improve calf health and farm biosecurity [ 13 , 14 ]. At the end of 2020, 11% of the dairy herds in Ireland, representing 18% of the dairy cows, were registered in the IJCP [ 13 ].…”