Johne's Disease Working Group minutes: September 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Scottish Government officials 
• Environmental Health and Trading Standards
• Scotland's Rural College
• Moredun
• James Hutton Institute
• HiHealth Herdcare
• National Farmers Union Scotland
• Action Johne's
• Orkney Livestock Association
• Livestock Health Scotland

Items and actions

Using data to control Johne’s Disease in beef suckler herds

 

There was a presentation on work primarily on dairy herds which has resulted in a national disease database with around 2,500 herds that carry out quarterly testing for Johne’s Disease. Average Test Values (ATV) were used from ELISA tests of routine milk samples which highlighted the importance of engaging with herds with high ATVs to determine struggles of keeping the disease under control. Farms with high ATVs that use culling as a control method had no reduction in ATV over a 5-year period, while Johne’s Disease prevalence is decreasing where farms are investigating how the disease is spreading and working to reduce this. There was a discussion on turning off the tap and management of the disease being crucial to ongoing reduction of Johne’s Disease in a herd.

 

Project Updates

 

Following a successful pilot a new project is commencing that will look at herds with ongoing Johne’s Disease prevalence and a high negative blood results (50-70% mark) in November/December. Pooled faecal samples will be collected and tested initially to keep costs down with further testing carried out on samples that are positive. There was a request for volunteers to manage the project and for those aware of eligible herds to put them forward.

 

Using data from a commercial suckler herd to look at the impact of Johne’s status on calf weaning weights

 

This farm has taken a proactive approach to managing Johne’s Disease involving faecal sampling, serology and PCR testing. Weaning weights of calves has been collected for several years which will help to understand the impact of Johne’s Disease. A lot of historical data is already recorded which could be analysed to help with this work in the future.

 

Demonstration of Johne’s Disease online support tool

 

There was a demonstration of the Johne’s Disease online support tool that has been developed by a team at Scotland’s Rural College and funded by Scottish Government. Large data sets from the premium cattle health scheme and CTS looks at patterns of the disease and what this means at the farmer level. This tool is being developed with farmers in mind and aims to help vets and farmers have a conversation about Johne’s Disease.

 

Any other business

 

The Johne’s Disease Assessment and Risk management project led by Livestock Health Scotland is looking for more vet practices and herds to get involved in the scheme for 2026/27.