LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS

BOVINE JOHNES DISEASE (BJD) CHANGES COMING IN NSW

Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald today announced plans to significantly reduce restrictions on cattle trading in NSW due to bovine Johnes disease (BJD).

“The changes have been recommended by the NSW BJD Summit which includes representatives from the NSW dairy and beef industries.

“The move will lighten the regulatory burden on dairy and beef produces,” said Mr. Macdonald.

“It will also give stockowners greater individual responsibility and the tolls to make sure they don’t bring the disease onto their farm,” he said.

Bovine Johne’s disease (BJD) is a chronic disease of cattle which has no cure. It can be introduced when you buy cattle.

Mr Macdonald said the Australian dairy industry had introduced the Dairy BJD Assurance Score plus on-farm cattle rearing programs to reduce the spread of BJD.

“The Dairy BJD Assurance Score is a herd scoring system out of 10, based on the level of risk of BJD associated with the herd. The higher the BJD Assurance Score the lower the risk,” he said.

“Cattle buyers should ask about the BJD status of stock before purchase and buy only low risk cattle.

“Dairy vendors should declare their herd’s score with every consignment offered for sale.”

He said the current recommendation to beef producers buying dairy cattle was to buy only cattle with a BJD Assurance Score of seven or more.

“At the moment the Dairy Assurance Score is voluntary but the changes to be introduced from the 1^st January 2008 will require dairy farmers to provide the BJD Assurance Score of their herd when selling or moving cattle,” Mr Macdonald said.

“There are six months until the changes come into effect, giving stockowners time to use the Score and prepare for when it has to be used.

The changes involved:

·         From 1 January 2008, BJD infected dairy herds will be released from quarantine.

·         From 1 January 2008, dairy producers selling or moving cattle will be required to supply their Dairy BJD assurance score to the purchaser.

·         From 1 January 2010, BJD zones in NSW will cease to exist (subject to agreement with Queensland on the success of the changes introduced in 2008)

The current BJD zones will remain in place until the new approach is well established to enable the free movement of beef cattle from the NSW Protected Area to Queensland to continue.

BJD-infected beef herds will stay in quarantine after 1 January 2008. The Cattle Council of Australia provides the Financial and Non-financial Assistance Package to assist them in removing the disease from their herd.

Mr. Macdonald said the Cattle Council of Australia (CCA) had agreed to extend their $550 BJD test subsidy to dairy herds in NSW. The Subsidy will be available to Non-Assessed dairy herds who undertake a herd test for BJD during 2007.

Non Assessed dairy herds in the current Control and Protected Area of NSW will receive Score 3 under the National Dairy BJD Assurance Score.

“The CCA subsidy will be valuable in assisting diary producers to test their herds and advance their Score,” he said.

BEEF ONLY CATTLE DIRECT TO QUEENSLAND

Female Cattle from BJD Control Areas are now eligible to be sold direct to Queensland properties without testing or being in a MAP Program provided they meet the Beef Only Criteria. This applies from 30 June 2006

TAIL TAGS NOW OBSOLETE

The requirement to tail tag cattle when they are being offered for sale, ceased on 30 June 2006.

NLIS Electronic Ear tags and the National Vendor Declarations are now the only requirement when selling cattle.

BEEF ONLY

The Beef Only classification was introduced in August 2004. It recognises the fact that BJD is far more common in dairy herds than in beef herds, and that beef herds present a much lower risk of introducing the disease.

A beef herd can be classified as Beef Only if it meets all of the following requirements at the time the declaration is made on the BJD Animal Health Statement (see below):

1. No animal has been part of a herd classified as ‘Infected’ (IN), ‘Suspect’ (SU) or ‘Restricted’ (RD)
2. No animal has had contact with dairy cattle or dairy-cross cattle at any time during the previous 5 years, unless those dairy cattle were from a herd enrolled in the Autralian Johne’s Disease Market Assurance Program for Cattle (CattleMAP)
3. No animal has grazed on land on which adult dairy cattle (2 years old, or older) have grazed in the previous 12 months, unless the dairy cattle were from CattleMAP herds
4. Any animals for sale from a Beef Only herd that were not born in the herd must have been introduced into the herd or onto the property from herds which are of the same (Beef Only) or higher status (BC-TAS, MN1, MN2, MN3) for bovine Johne’s disease (BJD) and must have come with a BJD vendor declaration to that effect
5. Any animal which is for sale as Beef Only must be individually identified under the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS)
   

CHANGES TO EMERGENCY NVDs USAGE

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• From March 1 2006 only livestock producers who are FULLY ACCREDITED
with LPA will be able to access Emergency NVDs. Provisionally registered LPA
producers cannot be supplied with LPA Emergency NVDs from 1 March 2006.

• Producers are encouraged that if they need to obtain emergency NVDs, they do it
by either contacting 1800 683 111 (Open 9am-5pm) or going to
www.mla.com.au/lqs and providing their LPA and/or PIC number. Provisionally
registered producers will need to become fully accredited and purchase a book of
NVDs to then access emergency NVDs.

• Agents can issue fully accredited LPA producers LPA Emergency NVDs. LPA
statuses can be obtained by accessing the “accreditation search” function at
www.mla.com.au/lqs . This functionality will be available through the NLIS
database in coming months

• If an agent is able to print off LPA logo and non LPA logo versions of the
emergency NVD they are using an out-of-date program and will need to update
the program by downloading it from the LPA Website (www.mla.com.au/lqs).

• The old or in credit tokens will work with the new agent system.

• The new tokens purchased after 1st March will not work with the old emergency
NVD systems (producer or agent).

Some Questions and Answers

• A client who is not LPA registered turns up at a saleyard with no NVD. What can
the agent give him or what can they do? – An agent can encourage the producer
to register with LPA by contacting 1800 683 111(Open 9am-5pm) or go to
www.mla.com.au/lqs. The client will then have to agree to the terms and
conditions of LPA, become fully accredited and purchase a book of LPA NVDs.
The client can then access emergency LPA NVDs. If the client does not wish to
register with LPA, alternative arrangements would have to be made between
client, agent and potential buyer (this does not involve LPA or MLA)

• A client who is provisionally registered with LPA turns up at a saleyard with no
NVD, what can the agent do? An agent can encourage the producer to become
fully accredited with LPA by contacting 1800 683 111(Open 9am-5pm) or go to
www.mla.com.au/lqs. The client will then have to agree to the terms and
conditions of LPA, become fully accredited and purchase a book of LPA NVDs.
The client can then access emergency LPA NVDs.

• A client who is fully accredited with LPA turns up at a saleyard with no NVD,
what can the agent do? The agent, after verifying the LPA status, can provide an
emergency NVD either through the new agent/saleyard system or by asking the
client to contact 1800 683 111(Open 9am-5pm) or go to www.mla.com.au/lqs

• What Emergency NVDS will be available from March 1st? – Emergency NVDs
through the new agent/saleyard system will be available for cattle and sheep
producers. Emergency NVDs through the producer system will be available for
cattle, sheep, goat and EU Cattle producers.

• What about tokens that agents still have in credit? The old or in credit tokens will
work with the new agent system. The new tokens purchased after 1st March will
not work with the old emergency NVD systems (producer or agent).

• Producer has 15 NVDs of old issues left at 1/3/06 - non LPA or LPA. Can these
continue to be used after 1 March? Provisional paper LPA NVDs are still
acceptable after this date. The livestock buyer will decide if they wish to purchase
livestock on an NVD not registered to LPA