Reproductive and nutritional management of your camelid herd

Postal: PO Box 406
Ocean Grove Vic 3226
Australia

Mobile: 0428 842 862
(0428 vicuna)

E-mail: vaughan@ava.com.au

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Investigation of difficult breeders

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JDMAP

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Johne’s disease Market Assurance Programs (JDMAP)

CRIAgenesis can set up and manage a Johne’s disease Market Assurance or Check Test 50 Program on your property.

Johne's disease was first diagnosed in camelids in Victoria in 1993. There have been 33 clinical cases of disease since then, the last in a llama in 1999. The distribution of those cases has been 26 cases in Victoria, 3 in New South Wales, 2 in Queensland, and 1 each in South Australia and Western Australia. 20 cases occurred in alpacas less than 22 months of age. The youngest alpaca was 6 months of age, the oldest 6-8 years of age. There are currently 2 infected camelid herds in Australia (as of Sept 2003).

Johne's disease (JD) is a serious wasting disease that thickens the intestinal walls and blocks normal food absorption in a variety of species. The 9 bacterial isolates of JD which have been found to cause disease in alpacas and llamas also affect cattle, goats and deer. Treatment is not possible. JD bacteria can survive in the environment for months to years, but bacteria do not multiply in environment. Direct costs to livestock industries in Australia are large, due to increased culling, weight loss, production loss (milk, meat, wool), predisposition to other diseases and deaths. Indirect costs include loss of markets, restriction of animal movements and potential reduction in land values.

Young animals up to 1 year of age (especially the first 30 days of life) are susceptible to JD infection, but older camelids may become infected. Animals become infected by eating faeces (eg on teats of dam) containing JD bacteria. Bacteria live in small intestine and are shed in faeces. Once infected, animals never revert to infection-free state. Clinical disease may be precipitated by stresses including parturition, low plane of nutrition, concurrent bacterial infection and social stress. Clinically infected animals may be ill-thrifty, lose weight despite a good appetite, and die after 1-6 months.

Transmission is by faecal ingestion, in utero infection and via the milk. The likely ways of infecting a camelid herd are by:

introducing infected cattle, goats, deer or camelids (including strays, agisted animals, shared bulls/machos etc)

clean animals moving/straying onto contaminated land then returning to infect the herd

contaminated faeces entering the property via a channel/river/drain

introduction of infected milk eg goat/cow colostrum

dirty stock trucks

Mechanical spread of JD such as transfer of material on boots and tyres is NOT considered an important cause of spread over long distances. There is NO evidence of wildlife spreading JD in Australia. Semen and embryos are very unlikely sources of the organism.

Early diagnosis of JD in the live animal is difficult because bacteria grow slowly and do not stimulate the immune system in such a way that blood testing may detect an immunological reponse. For this reason, blood testing is not used to detect JD in camelids in Australia. Few bacteria are excreted in the faeces in the early stages of infection and JD bacteria grow very slowly. Faecal culture, the definitive test for JD in camelids in Australia, therefore takes 6-12 weeks.

Legal obligations – JD is a notifiable disease (for example in Victoria, under the Livestock Diseases Control Act 1994). Owners have a responsibility to notify their local Department of Agriculture if JD is suspected or confirmed on their property.

There are 3 mains forms of herd assurance available to producers to minimise risk of introducing JD into their herd:

Zoning. Different regions of Australia are zoned according to the level of disease risk. Disease control standards and movement restrictions are agreed for zones of different status. Go to www.aahc.com.au to see which zone you are in.

Check testing. A negative test of 50 adult animals in a herd with no suspicion of JD infection. Animals selected for testing are those in poorer condition, older or introduced from other herds. There are no herd management requirements, the test provides a low level of assurance but is NOT an AlpacaMAP status.

Market assurance programs - AlpacaMAP is a voluntary, standardised national quality assurance program. The broad roles of the AlpacaMAP are to protect 'clean' regions, protect non-infected herds, contain infection and control the effects of disease.

The Alpaca Johne's Disease Market Assurance Program (AlpacaMAP) is based on animal testing AND property and herd management. AlpacaMAP does not guarantee that a herd is free of JD, but the higher the status a herd achieves, the greater the assurance that it is not infected. In larger herds, the level of sampling and testing gives at least a 95 % confidence of detecting infection if the disease is present in 2 % of camelids over 1 year of age. In small herds, all adult camelids are tested.

Requirements for entry onto the AlpacaMAP by Non-Assessed herds:

Herd and property risk assessment.

Creation of a Farm Management Plan to minimise risk of introducing JD onto the property.

Faecal culture of all camelids over 1 year of age to SCREEN herd.

Follow-up investigation of reactors (by further faecal culture or post-mortem).

If all testing is negative, then the herd is allocated MN1 status.

JDMAP properties undergo an annual audit to remain on the program. Animal testing is carried out every 2 years until herds reach MN3 status, then testing occurs every 3 years.

Herds participating in the AlpacaMAP provide a pool of animals from which buyers can source camelids with a low risk of buying an infected animal, facilitate movement of low risk camelids between zones, allow herds to demonstrate their status so they can sell breeding animals and reduce the risk of JD being spread at shows and sales.

For more information go to: www.aahc.com.au

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