A new research project led by Cranfield University aims to understand the challenges both farmers and vets face when implementing Johnes controls on-farm. Katie Fallon reports.
Rated as the number one endemic disease affecting productivity on dairy farms across the UK, Johnes is a disease everyone in the industry is keen to get on top of.
In an attempt to aid disease control, Cranfield University, together with industry experts, is leading a social science research project to understand the barriers both dairy farmers and vets are facing in the fight against Johnes.
Pete Orpin, chair of the Johnes Action technical group, who is leading the projects knowledge exchange, says when it comes to Johnes a lot of the success in controlling the disease is about behaviour change and peoples beliefs.
He adds that part of the project will be about refreshing peoples concepts of controlling the disease and understanding what the road blocks are to successful control.
As Johnes disease is now a significant part of the Red Tractor standards, Mr Orpin says even though 70% of dairy farmers are already undergoing strategic testing, there is still further work to do with the other 25% of farmers, who are not as engaged.
He says: We have to explore how we can get better engagement and better results from the 70% already doing the work. But also how we can best help the remaining 25% of farmers to become more engaged with the programme.
Previous research carried out before this project found that 40% of farmers were testing for Johnes, but not controlling the disease.
Mr Orpin says: We realised that no number of tests will help if we are not using the results to the best effect.
The project which will complete in September this year will include 20 workshops throughout the UK speaking with vets and dairy farmers, while carrying out in-depth interviews to look more closely at the major challenges farmers are facing with regards to Johnes control.
Rosie Morrison, research assistant at Cranfield University, who is leading the social science work, says: We already understand Johnes and how to control it, but those controls are not being implemented on-farm that frequently. This project is about bridging the gap and understanding what is happening on the ground.
The challenges farmers are facing are justified and no-one is right or wrong. We just want to understand why.
Ms Morrison hopes the results will help vets, industry experts and policymakers to design control methods which are easier to implement on-farm and understand the challenges farmers are facing.
Vet Will Gratwick, of LLM vets, whose practice is involved in the project, believes one of the main barriers to controlling the disease is perception.
He says: There is the perception with some farmers that they do not have the space or the facilities to implement controls, which can be a limiting factor to some extent. Hopefully in the meetings we can get across that there are other ways to approach controlling the disease.
Mr Gratwick says the project will be of great value to both farmers and vets, with the workshops providing a useful refresher for vets on recent research, while providing a platform for farmers to discuss their challenges and share solutions.
As part of the project, a method of environmental sampling commonly used in other parts of the world is being trialled in Northern Ireland to identify infections within dairy herds.
It is hoped the environmental sampling will help to develop more efficient disease controls, which together with the social science research, will provide the whole package in terms of Johnes control.
