PA Johne's Herd Certification
The Pennsylvania Johne's Disease Herd Certification Process provides a structured framework which veterinarians, herd owners and herd managers can use to develop a meaningful herd management plan. Herds that develop and implement such a plan canbe recognized for their participation by being classified as a “management”, “control” or “status” herd.
The Management Level is designed for herds that would like to minimize the risk of
Johne's Disease entering or spreading within the herd, but do not yet wish to participate in regular testing of its animals for Johne's Disease. Both infected and uninfected herds may enroll in this level. No claims concerning the level of JD in the herd can be made by herds participating at the Management Level since no structured diagnostic testing is carried out. Herd owners are strongly encouraged to add strategic diagnostic testing to their management protocol and to move from the Management Level to the Control or Status Level.
The Control Level is designed to benefit herds that would like to minimize the risk of Johne's Disease entering or spreading within the herd and that utilize at least some diagnostic testing to monitor animal and herd JD infection status. Both infected and uninfected herds may enroll in this level. If an appropriate testing strategy is used, some estimate of the level of JD in the herd may be made, although no official documentation is provided by the Department of Agriculture. Although JD infected and uninfected herds can participate at the Control Level, uninfected herds with no recent history of JD are encouraged to participate at the Status Level.
Herds that have not had any recent evidence of Johne's Disease, and have not imported high risk animals into the herd are the most suitable candidates for the Status Level. This level is designed to identify herds that are test-negative for Johne's Disease. Herds may achieve Status Level 1, 2, 3, or 4, with each higher level representing a greater confidence that the herd is free from Johne's Disease. However, due to the nature of Johne's Disease, and the limitations of the currently available diagnostic tests, herds can never be declared to be unequivocally free of Johne's Disease.
In order to participate in the PA Johne's Herd Certification Process, interested herd owners must work with a Johne's Certified Veterinarian to complete the appropriate paperwork and carry out a risk assessment in order to develop a herd management plan. This PA Department of Agriculture website outlines the required procedures. The Cooperative Agreement Form specifies the details of the agreement entered into by the herd owner, veterinarian and PA Department of Agriculture. It must be completed and submitted to the Department along with the Johne's Disease Risk Assessment and Herd Management Plan (Dairy (PDF) / Alternate Dairy Form - PA version (PDF) / Beef (PDF) ). These scoring guidelines (PDF) are to be used for the risk assessment in order to provide some standardization and consistency in the scoring between farms and between assessors.
Further details regarding participation at each level, and more information regarding the PA Johne's Herd Certification Process can be found in the PA Herd Certification User's Guide.
