Johnes Disease

kevthegaff

Lads the sister is a vet and is warning me about pooling colostrum etc in case of johnes disease, its a bigger probem in the UK she says. Do any of ye take precautions or is it not bad here yet?

charleysurf

I think they say 20% of herds in Ireland have johns in some form or another but the level of infection is low on these infected herds.

I blooded the herd in early January for the new johnes scheme and it came back with one positive cow, so the only precaution I'm taking this spring is keeping her away from the group calving pen and her milk will be dumped once she calves.

to be honest it'd be something I'd recommend testing for as its one disease that once it enters a herd you can't vaccinate against. the only way to get rid of it is to cull.

biddy2013

charleysurf wrote: »

I think they say 20% of herds in Ireland have johns in some form or another but the level of infection is low on these infected herds.

I blooded the herd in early January for the new johnes scheme and it came back with one positive cow, so the only precaution I'm taking this spring is keeping her away from the group calving pen and her milk will be dumped once she calves.

to be honest it'd be something I'd recommend testing for as its one disease that once it enters a herd you can't vaccinate against. the only way to get rid of it is to cull.

i am blooding for johnes under the scheme next week, how accurate are the results, had you had any cases previous to this?

slippy wicket

Blooded 100 at the start of February, had 5 come back positive.
2 of which were tested last year and failed blood and passed dung.
Hopefully same this year.

charleysurf

i had a cow test positive last year, she was wasting away and i thought it was fluke. she was tested for johnes and came back really high.

as for accuracy its said to be as reliable as a tb test, so i'll be testing my positive again in 3 month time just to see if anything changes.

Milked out

Just make sure the test is carried out more than 6 months after a tb test or you could get false readings. On precautions re pooling colostrum, all you can do really is not keep any from suspect cows and try and give each calf its mothers milk if they give it after calving

biddy2013

charleysurf wrote: »

i had a cow test positive last year, she was wasting away and i thought it was fluke. she was tested for johnes and came back really high.

as for accuracy its said to be as reliable as a tb test, so i'll be testing my positive again in 3 month time just to see if anything changes.

out of interest would you not just have gotten rid of her when she tested positive, what is the reasoning in holding on to her?

kevthegaff

On a different note lads how many feeds of biestings do ye feed, the sis was saying alot in the first 6 hours than after that theres less and less absorbtion unti 24 hrs practicall none. I give alot the first feed straight away 3-4 litres and then one more feed 12-15 hours later

charleysurf

biddy2013 wrote: »

out of interest would you not just have gotten rid of her when she tested positive, what is the reasoning in holding on to her?

the cow that tested positive last year got the bullet the day the results came back for her. the positive animal from testing the whole herd had a very low positive so i'll just test her again in 3 months and if she fails she's gone.

Henwin

Which method is the most reliable for accurate results- milk, blood or dung?
What options do you have once you have a positive, can they only go to the factory and not the mart?
Thankfully my dad has a closed herd for 15 years and never any trouble with bvd etc. but last year he brought a bull at the mart from a farm that we have since learned has a Johnes problem. What are the risks with bulls transferring the disease from themselves onto the cows. Is it mainly from colustrum?
Cant find the answer on the AHI site

greysides

The biggest risk from a bull would be faecal spread. An animal can be spreading the bug before it shows clinical signs (diarrhoea, weight loss).

biddy2013

greysides wrote: »

The biggest risk from a bull would be faecal spread. An animal can be spreading the bug before it shows clinical signs (diarrhoea, weight loss).

What age would you normally see them scouring etc

greysides

It varies depending on the amount of infection they get caught with. Signs of Johne’s disease are typically seen in animals that are between
3 and 5 years old but can occasionally be seen in animals that are younger than two years of age. A lot of older cows with it are culled for secondary reasons. It may not be obvious but it may be the reason they aren't milking well or going in-calf but those are the reasons they are culled, and it's not put down to Johne's.

Henwin

Hi, could anyone tell me what price ye are charged for blood testing cow for the disease. is it more than milk testing and dung testing. we had our tb test in October so I presume we should wait until April/ May before testing.

biddy2013

Henwin wrote: »

Hi, could anyone tell me what price ye are charged for blood testing cow for the disease. is it more than milk testing and dung testing. we had our tb test in October so I presume we should wait until April/ May before testing.

vets rang around labs all are around 3.50 give or take, there is a loophole where oldcastle labs are charging the lower rate of vat for some reason so they are cheaper