The NSW DPI has confirmed a cattle stud near Casino has been moved to ‘infected status’ for Johne’s Disease following a positive test for the disease in one of its home grown animals.

Under the new national Johne’s Disease framework for cattle, properties affected by the disease are no longer placed under quarantine, and they remain free to trade.

However, Johne’s is still a notifiable disease.

The NSW DPI told Beef Central in a statement that the stud, which has not been publicly identified, is now under a legal obligtion to disclose its herd status using its Beef Assurance score when selling animals in order for any purchaser to make an informed risk based decision when buying in animals.

Breaches of the general biosecurity duty such as willingly creating a biosecurity risk by selling animals that may be infected with a notifiable disease may result in prosecution under the NSW Biosecurity Act.

It is frequent that managers of stud cattle sales place entry requirements on animal being sold at their sales in regard to health status and it is not uncommon for some stud sales to restrict the entry of animals who originate from Johns infected herds.

In its statement the NSW DPI said it strongly supports the use of cattle health declarations  as tools to assist purchasers make informed decisions when introducing cattle on to their property.

Beef Central is not aware of any other herds which have been reported as infected since deregulation of BJD occurred in early 2016.

Under the new framework, as the NSW DPI indicated, a herd owner is liable for prosecution if they knowingly sell animals for breeding which may be infected with a notifiable disease and do not declare it as such.

Animal Health Australia said that once clinical cases are removed, the stud would return to J-BAS 2.

The stud could then make its way back to J-BAS 6 when it has had no clinical cases for the past 5 years.

Testing would only be required for the stud to to progress to a J-BAS 7 or an 8 – more information on the JBAS scoring system here

To view a fact sheet from Animal Health Australia explaining the national approach to Johne’s Disease in cattle click here