The Action Group on Johne’s initiative called The National Johne’s Management Plan (NJMP) seeks to manage and then reduce the incidence of Johne’s disease on dairy farms in England, Wales and Scotland through implementation of one of the six control strategies, and monitored on each farm by BCVA Accredited Johne’s Veterinary Advisors.
Vets and dairy industry stakeholders gave their full support to the new Johne’s Tracker at the launch event held on 21st July. The Tracker will provide vets and farmers with a powerful tool for interpreting Johne’s test results that will give further momentum to industry efforts to tackle Johne’s disease.
The event was attended by vets from all over the country along with milk purchaser and farmer representatives.
The Tracker will provide a common framework for presenting Johne’s Disease test results which will give vets and farmers greater insight into the effectiveness of the Johne’s Disease management strategy used on the farm.
The Tracker takes historic test results, along with other herd data, and provides a simple visual representation which gives a clear picture of disease progression in the herd. This will support farmers and their vet to determine what they need to do to continue to reduce the incidence of the disease, or for low prevalence farms, ensure they maintain control. The tool is being incorporated into the result reports provided by the Johne’s testing labs and is expected to be available by the end of the Summer 2021.
Chair of the Action Group on Johne’s, Lyndon Edwards said: ‘As a farmer I believe the Johne’s Tracker gives both farmers and vets another useful tool in their toolbox, simplifying the understanding of Johne’s disease results and enabling farmers, and their vets, to make good decisions and reduce the future levels on Johne’s disease on farms’.
Also launched at the event were the new training modules developed by the BCVA. The first new module centres on interpretation of test results and testing protocols and the second module focuses on the use of the Johne’s Disease Tracker. They will supplement the modules that already exist and have been completed by all current BCVA Accredited Johne’s Veterinary Advisors (BAJVA).
The new modules are part of the commitment by the BCVA to ensuring that vets remain fully up to date on developments in Johne’s Disease management.
Counting down to 31st December 2022
There are three key steps the farmer should complete in conjunction with a BAJVA to satisfy the requirements of the NJMP. Upon successful completion of these steps a NJMP veterinary declaration should completed, signed and returned to your milk purchaser.
THE 2022 DEADLINE FOR RETURN OF COMPLETED AND SIGNED DECLARATIONS TO YOUR MILK PURCHASER IS 31ST DECEMBER 2022. PLEASE FOLLOW ANY SPECIFIC GUIDANCE AND REQUESTS DIRECT FROM YOUR MILK PURCHASER.
Since October 2019 the Red Tractor dairy standards now include a requirement that all Red Tractor approved members have a signed NJMP declaration.
