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The National Johne's Management Plan: using risk and data analysis to optimise Johne's control in dairy herds
Abstract
The National Johne's Management Plan (NJMP) is now a compulsory element of the Red Tractor Farm assurance scheme. Over 95% of UK dairy farms will need to undertake surveillance, risk assessments, and have a written veterinary control plan, and 70% of participants are utilising milk enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing. To support the NJMP a new Johne's Progress Tracker has been developed that uses key outcome measures and drivers to provide new insights into Johne's disease (JD) development. Benchmark measures have been developed allowing for graphical comparison of all measures. The JD Tracker delivers a practical opportunity to help JD veterinary advisors to evaluate the reasons why their herds are succeeding or failing to control JD. The development of enhanced risk assessment tools is also essential to identify the expanded list of risks, and engaging the farmer with a successful JD control plan helps secure the farmer's prospects.
In 2009, Dairy UK, the milk processor body, set up an industry initiative with stakeholders from the dairy industry called Action Johne's. All UK dairy farms have a single supply contract with a designated buyer, who has control over the standards to which the milk is produced. This has progressed over the years from a Johne's disease (JD) education and engagement programme to a more structured framework for the control and management of JD in the UK dairy herd called the National Johne's Management Plan (NJMP) (Orpin, 2020a).
In 2017 the scheme structure involved the training of approved JD advisors through the British Cattle Veterinary Association and a campaign through the milk buyers to ensure their farmers had undertaken an annual risk assessment in conjunction with a trained and accredited JD veterinary advisor, and selected an appropriate control strategy from six possible options. The UK national farm assurance programme (Red Tractor) incorporated the NJMP into the dairy farm standards in 2020, effectively making it mandatory to be part of the NJMP, resulting in 95% of all UK dairy farmers now being included in the scheme, and over 1700 veterinary surgeons now trained to deliver on the programme.
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