title: Evaluation of the Johne's disease risk assessment and management plan on dairy farms in Ontario, Canada.
abstract: Johne's disease (JD) is a production-limiting gastrointestinal disease in cattle. To minimize the effects of JD, the Ontario dairy industry launched the Ontario Johne's Education and Management Assistance Program in 2010. As part of the program, trained veterinarians conducted a risk assessment and management plan (RAMP), an on-farm questionnaire where high RAMP scores are associated with high risk of JD transmission. Subsequently, veterinarians recommended farm-specific management practices for JD prevention. Milk or serum ELISA results from the milking herd were used to determine the herd ELISA status (HES) and within-herd prevalence. After 3.5 yr of implementation of the program, the aim of this study was to evaluate the associations among RAMP scores, HES, and recommendations. Data from 2,103 herds were available for the analyses. A zero-inflated negative binomial model for the prediction of the number of ELISA-positive animals per farm was built. The model included individual RAMP questions about purchasing animals in the logistic portion, indicating risks for between-herd transmission, and purchasing bulls, birth of calves outside the designated calving area, colostrum and milk feeding management, and adult cow environmental hygiene in the negative binomial portion, indicating risk factors for within-herd transmission. However, farms which fed low-risk milk compared with milk replacer had fewer seropositive animals. The model additionally included the JD herd history in the negative binomial and the logistic portion, indicating that herds with a JD herd history were more likely to have at least 1 positive animal and to have a higher number of positive animals. Generally, a positive association was noted between RAMP scores and the odds of receiving a recommendation for the respective risk area; however, the relationship was not always linear. For general JD risk and calving area risk, seropositive herds had higher odds of receiving recommendations compared with seronegative herds if the section scores were low. This study suggests that the RAMP is a valuable tool to assess the risk for JD transmission within and between herds and to determine farm-specific recommendations for JD prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pieper
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108.
authors.forename: Ulrike S
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Sorge
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Trevor J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: DeVries
authors.affiliation: Veterinary Science and Policy Group, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food/Ministry of Rural Affairs (OMAF/MRA), Elora, Ontario, Canada, N1G 4Y2.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Godkin
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1.
authors.forename: Kerry
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lissemore
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1. Electronic address: dkelton@uoguelph.ca.
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Kelton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003612:Dairying / Q000379:methods*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D010283:Paratuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: control program; evaluation; paratuberculosis; risk assessment