REF 9-02

Department of Environment and Primary Industries

Victorian bovine Johne’s disease

Test & Control Program (TCP3) Rules

The Victorian bovine Johne’s disease (bjd) Test and Control Program (TCP3) is a voluntary disease control program operating with the support of the beef and dairy industries. It is administered by the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI). The TCP3 program is available to dairy and beef herds with a bjd infected status.

Owners of herds participating in the TCP3 program must comply with the program rules as outlined below.

General

The herd owner / manager must engage a veterinarian approved by DEPI to provide professional advice on Johne’s disease control strategies and to conduct herd testing.A list of current DEPI approved veterinarians is available from DEPI on request.

All dairy herds must have a current Certificate of Compliance issued by the veterinarian under the Johne’s Disease Calf Accreditation Program (JDCAP).

Beef herds are exempt from participating in JDCAP.

Herd Testing

The ELISA serological test on a blood sample will be used for herd testing.

An animal in a bjd infected herd that has a positive ELISA test result is a test positive animal and will be classified as a bjd infected animal. Animals that test positive to the ELISA serological test are not to be re-tested.Repeat serology is not permitted under the National bjd Standard Definitions and Rules with the exception of cases where the laboratory reports an ELISA test result as ‘suspect’, in which case the animal should be re-sampled a month later to determine the ‘status’ of the animal.

Frequency of herd testing

Herd tests are to be conducted either annually or every second year until the herd achieves Tested Low Prevalence (TLP). A herd of TLP status is an infected herd that has 2% or less test positive animals among cattle that are 4 years and older cattle. Once herds achieve TLP status (or better), a funded herd test will only be available every two years.

TLP and Restricted 1 (RD1) herds will only require a herd test every two years. An RD1 status is allocated when the herd has achieved one negative herd test at least 12 months after the last known infected animal was removed from the herd. In consultation with their veterinarian, owners of TLP and RD1 herds may elect to test annually, but the funded testing will only be available every second year.

Participation in the subsidised voluntary program may continue until the herd has achieved Restricted 2 (RD2) status. An RD2 status is achieved when all high risk animals have been removed from the herd and the herd has two consecutive negative herd tests two years apart.

Until 1 September 2011, current TLP, RD1 and RD2 herds will be eligible to participate in one funded round of testing, after which funded herd testing for TLP and RD1 herds will only be available every two years until the herd completes the program (or elects to withdraw from the program).

Age of cattle to be tested

All cattle 4 years of age and older are to be tested.On the advice of the approved veterinarian, cattle less than 4 years of age (2 and 3 year olds) may be tested but this will be at the herd owner’s expense.

Test Positive Animals

The veterinarian must notify the herd owner / manager of the test results including (if any) a list of test positive animals. Notification to the herd owner / manager must be in writing within 14 days of the receipt of laboratory results.

The veterinarian is responsible for identifying the test positive animals, including the individual NLIS tag details of these. The veterinarian must report NLIS tag details of the test positive animals to the DEPI. There is no longer a requirement to ear tag test positive cattle with a yellow DEPI ‘arrow’ ear tag.

Cattle which are test positive must be disposed from the herdwithin 30 days of receipt of test results from the veterinarian.

These test positive cattle must be disposed forslaughter onlydirect to an abattoir, knackery, or on-farm. Cattle showing signs consistent with Johne’s disease must not be sent to an abattoir for slaughter for human consumption; they must be either disposed direct to a knackery or disposed on-farm.

Herd owners must dispose of test positive animals within the 30 day timeframeto continue to be eligible for subsidised testing. Failure to comply with disposal of test positive animals in a timely manner jeopardises on-farm disease control. DEPI will monitor the NLIS database for compliance with this requirement. Disregard for this requirement will lead to denied access to the funded TCP3 program.

The NLIS details of any cattle disposed of on-farm must be updated on the NLIS database to reflect the ‘deceased’ status of the animal’s NLIS tag.

High-Risk animal list

A list of animals deemed primary high-risk and secondary risk of Johne’s disease will be developed by the approved veterinarian in consultation with the herd owner / manager based on herd progeny records.

Primary High-Risk- animals deemed primary high-risk of bjdinclude:

  • the dam and allremaining progeny of clinical animals,
  • the dam and immediate progeny (latest calf) of test positive animals, and
  • any other animals the veterinarian considers to be primary high-risk.

Secondary Risk - additional animals which may be deemed a secondary risk of bjdinclude:

  • any otherprogeny of test positive animals not included in the primary high-risk list,
  • animals raised as the cohort age group of an animal/s with clinical bjd.

Any cattle remaining in the herd which were on the previous Preferential Cull List are to be transferred to the High-Risk animal list on commencement of participation in TCP3.

Animals identifiedby the veterinarian as primary high-risk must be removed from the herd within 12 months and disposed by slaughter only.Animals deemed at secondary risk must be disposedfrom the herd by slaughter only. There is no time limit on the disposal of animals on the secondary risk list. Primary high-risk and secondary risk animalscan only be disposed direct to an abattoir, knackery, or on-farm. They must not enter a public place, such as a saleyard or scales operation. Cattle showing clinical signs consistent with Johne’s disease cannot be sent to an abattoir for slaughter for human consumption; they must be disposedeither direct to a knackery or disposed of on-farm.

Cattle with clinical signs consistent with or suspicious of bovine Johne’s disease

Under Victorian legislation, a herd owner / manager must notify DEPIwithin 7 days of the owner becoming awareof cases of bjd or suspicion of bjd in their herd.Any animals with clinical signs consistent or suspicious of bjd (gradual weight loss / emaciation and chronic diarrhoea which is unresponsive to treatment) must be notified to DEPI and the veterinarian.

Notification to DEPI can be either by way of a fax or email addressed to the TCP3 Admin Officer- Fax 03 5430 4520, or email:

Details of this notification must include the herd owner / manager’s name, Property Identification Code (PIC), the number and age of ‘clinical’ animals and the date of onset of signs.

The veterinarian should give you professional advice on an appropriate course of action for any clinically affected animals. To minimise further contamination of the property with the Johne’s bacteria and tominimise animal welfare issues, cattle displaying signs consistent with bjd should be removed from the herd as soon as possible and disposed of. These animals cannot be sent to a saleyard or abattoir. They must be disposed of through a knackery or on-farm in an appropriate and humane manner.

There is no obligation to investigate these ‘clinical’ animals, other than notification to DEPI and prompt disposal of the animal.The herd owner / manager and veterinarian may elect to sample the animal to confirm bjd or test for another disease. Any laboratory fees for the testing for bjd in these cases will be paid by DEPIdirectly to the laboratory. The herd owner will be responsible for the veterinary fees associated with any consultation and/or sampling and any other (non-bjd related) laboratory fees.

Silirum vaccinated cattle

Any cattle which have been vaccinated with the bjd vaccine – Silirum™ and test serological (ELISA) positive are deemed test positive animals and are to be treated the same as non-vaccinated test positive animals.

Any progeny of a ‘Silirum vaccinated’ clinical casecow should be added to the Primary High-Risk animal list to be disposed for slaughter only within 12 months as per other the Primary High-Risk listed animals.

Progeny of any ‘Silirum vaccinated’ test positive cows should be added to the Secondary Risk animal list to be disposed for slaughter only.

This policy on Silirum vaccinated cattle is based on a conservative approach to risk until more data becomes available on the vaccine efficacy.

Introducing cattle into the herd

The dairy herd owner / manger may only introduce cattle into the herd thathave the equivalent or higher National Dairy Assurance Score (NDAS). For example a dairy herd with a Restricted 1 status (NDAS = 5 points) could introduce dairy cattle from a herd with a Tested Low Prevalencestatus (NDAS = 4 points) if the calves were raised under the 3-Step Calf Plan which entitles them to 1 calf credit point, totalling 5 Points. Calves raised under the audited JDCAP are entitled to 3 calf credit points.

Dairy herds should obtain / retain a copy of a Dairy bjd Assurance Score Declaration form or a National Vendor Declaration (NVD) which states the National Dairy Assurance Score,for any cattle purchased.

Beef herds may only introduce cattle into the herd which originate from herds certified to be of equal or better level of assurance (status) in relation to Johne’s disease. For example a beef cattle herd with a status of RD2 must not introduce cattle from a herd which is only RD1.

Herd owners / managers must ensure that the NLIS database is notified within 7 days of the introduction of cattle including bulls directly from another property with a different PIC.

Johne’s Disease Calf Accreditation Program

Dairy herds participating in the TCP3 must continue to comply with the requirements of the JDCAP and have a current Certificate of Compliance.

Participating herds that are issued with a Provisional Certificate of Compliance must address and rectify non-compliances and obtain a Certificate of Compliancewithin 12 months of receiving the Provisional Certificate.

Program Funding / Cost of Program

The TCP3 program is funded by the Victorian Cattle Compensation Fund with monies generated from livestock duties. The Cattle Compensation Advisory Committee, appointed by the Minister of Agriculture from representative cattle industry groups, is responsible for advising the Minister on expenditure from the Fund for livestock disease control programs.

Subsidisation of the funded program administered by DEPI will be limited to the agreed fee paymentfor:

  • Veterinary fees for the collection and submission of herd samples from animals 4 years and older and the required veterinary activity following herd testing. This includes the written notification of herd test results to the herd owner / manager, the recommended herd status, the reporting of the individual NLIS identification of test positive animals to DEPI, and in consultation with the herd owner / manager, the development of a written list of animalsdeemed high-risk of Johne’s disease.
  • Annual veterinary fee for advice to the herd owner / manager relating to Johne’s disease control, the annual updating of the list of high-risk animals and the supply of the written annual report to DEPI.
  • Laboratory cost for annual / biennial (as applicable) herd testing of animals 4 years and older. (Cost for testing cattle less than 4 years old will be at the owner’s expense).
  • Laboratory cost for confirmation of Johne’s disease in any clinical animals sampled.

These veterinary fees are payable by DEPI directly to the approved veterinarian upon receipt of a completed report and invoice to DEPI from the veterinarian.DEPI will directly pay the laboratory fees for testing as described above.

The applicant (herd owner / manager) will be responsible for payment to the engaged veterinarian for any fees over and above the funded fee. Herd owners / managers should discuss their individual circumstances with their veterinarian and whether there is likely to be any additional veterinary fees above the funded program fees.

Veterinary fees for the annual JDCAP audit are payable by the herd owner. The herd owner may claim from DEPI, up to the maximum rebate (currently $250) upon lodgement of a JDCAP claim form along with a copy of the veterinarian’s invoice and receipt as proof of payment.

Compensation

Under the TCP3 program, no compensation will be available for clinical animals or serological (ELISA) test positive animals.

TCP3 Program commencement date

The TCP3 program will commence from the 1stOctober 2010. It supersedes the current TCP2 program.

The TCP3 program will be reviewed mid 2011 and some conditions associate with the operation of the program may change after consultation with industry stakeholders and with the endorsement of the Cattle Compensation Advisory Committee.

Application to participate in the TCP3 Program

In order to participate in this subsidised voluntary program, the herd owner / manager (applicant) is required to complete an application form acknowledging they understand and will comply with the rules of the program.

The application form must be completed for herds currently participating in the TCP2 program and wishing to continue in the new TCP3 program, along with any new herds wishing to join the TCP3.

TCP3 Program Flow Chart

Below is a flow chart depicting the frequency of testing andherd progression through the TCP3.

TCP3 Herd progression flow chart

Author: D ChampnessVersion Date: 1 July 2013

Approved: Page 1 of 1