Management of Johne’s disease (C-strain) in cattle in Western Australia consultation

Consultation on the future management of Johne’s disease (C-strain) in cattle in Western Australia, led by the Cattle Industry Funding Scheme Management Committee (Cattle IFSMC), has concluded.

Thank you to the Western Australian cattle industry members who participated and completed submissions.

Following the close of the submission period, the Cattle IFSMC met with WA industry representatives on 5 November 2020 to consider the submissions and facilitate a decision by industry.

The final decision by the WA cattle industry was to continue a statewide regulated approach to managing Johne’s disease (JD) (C-strain) in cattle in WA.

For more details, see the Final report – JD (C-strain) in cattle consultation on this webpage.

Background

JD in cattle was deregulated nationally in 2016. Following national deregulation, the WA cattle industry requested continuation of statewide regulation of JD (C-strain) in cattle in order to minimise the risk of introducing the disease through cattle imported from other states and territories while the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development carried out targeted surveillance.

The targeted surveillance results were combined with other JD (C-strain) surveillance data to establish a high level of confidence that WA has a very low risk of JD (C-strain) being present in the state’s cattle population.

During the consultation, WA cattle industry participants and industry organisations were asked to read these documents:

• Management of JD (C-strain) in cattle in Western Australia – consultation paper
• Economic impact evaluation of JD in WA
• Frequently asked questions - JD (C-strain) in cattle consultation.

and then to make a submission on whether JD (C-strain) in cattle:

• continues to be managed through state regulation and, if so, under what conditions or
• is deregulated and individual stakeholders manage their own biosecurity to prevent and manage JD on individual properties, as is done in other states/territories.

More information

For more information, email IFS@dpird.wa.gov.au