The Queensland Government says it will not allow individual producers to carry the burden of the State’s BJD outbreak.

Acting Premier Jeff Seeney and Agriculture Minister John McVeigh on Wednesday met with more than 50 cattle industry representatives at a forum in Brisbane for wide consultation about the response strategy to Bovine Johnes Disease (BJD).

Mr Seeney said the government was committed to an open dialogue with industry about the ongoing response to BJD.

“We will ensure that individual producers will not have to carry the burden of this problem and will work with the industry to deal with it,” Mr Seeney said.

“The Government will continue to be guided by industry about the overall direction of the response and the need to maintain Queensland’s Protected Zone status for BJD.”

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry John McVeigh said one of the actions stemming from today’s meeting would see Biosecurity Queensland officers undertake more extensive sampling and testing on the stud property in Rockhampton where BJD was confirmed.

To speed up tests from the origin property, Biosecurity Queensland will also liaise with laboratories interstate where a new diagnostic test is already available for use. The test has the potential to reduce turnaround times on results.

“This will be done to better understand the prevalence of the disease within this herd,” Mr McVeigh said.

“While this may give us more information about potential distribution of the disease, it will not negate the need for trace forward properties to be individually assessed.

“Assessments will be undertaken on each property to determine the appropriate management and testing strategy to be put in place.”

Mr Seeney said support for affected producers, including compensation and counselling services, was also raised by industry.

“We will continue to work through these issues with industry because we understand it is not viable for individual producers to bear the burden of this response alone,” he said.

More BJD information is available online at: www.biosecurity.qld.gov.au, by calling 13 25 23 or by following Biosecurity Queensland on Facebook and Twitter (@BiosecurityQld). Interested parties can have information sent to them directly through the Biosecurity Queensland cattle alerts by subscribing online at www.biosecurity.qld.gov.au