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Controlling Johne's Disease
Controlling
Johne's Disease in Minnesota Dairy Herds
Johne's disease is economically important to dairy farms,
but often not noticed
- Many infected herds lose over
$200 per cow in inventory per year (USDA-APHIS study), mostly due
to premature culling and lost milk production
- The long incubation period (2-6
years from infection to disease onset) masks the impact of disease
to producers, though infected cows can transmit infection to other
cattle before showing signs of disease and/or testing positive for
Johne's.
Johne's disease can be controlled on the dairy farm
- Most herds are infected though
purchase of infected cattle
- On infected farms, transmission
occurs primarily through fecal-oral routes, especially to susceptible
young heifer calves
- Disease control involves preventing
heifer calves from exposure to manure from adult cows (with special
focus on calving area and segregated heifer rearing)
The
first step in control of Johne's disease is for producers to identify
whether their dairy herds are infected.
To identify if cattle are infected, the Minnesota Board of
Animal Health will:
- Test a random sample of 30 cows
in a producer's herd to identify herd infection status (The BAH pays
for lab costs of tests).
- If herd tests positive, BAH
district veterinarian will visit the farm and evaluate the key risks
for spreading infection on the farm.
- After the Risk Assessment is
performed, a herd plan will be developed with the producer's veterinarian,
and the district veterinarian. The BAH will test up to 200 cows in
a producer's herd each year (BAH pay for lab costs of tests) to monitor
infection.
Contacts:
Minnesota Board of Animal Health phone:
651-296-2942
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