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You are here: Agriculture » Pests, Diseases and Weeds » Animal Diseases » Beef and Dairy Cows » Bovine Johnes Disease » BJD Vendor Declarations

Vendor Declarations for Bovine Johne’s Disease

Note Number: AG0936
Published: December 2005
Updated: November 2010

 

Bovine Johne's disease (bjd) Vendor Declarations provide valuable information to potential stock purchasers. They can assist purchasers to assess the level of assurance or risk of bjd that the cattle being offered for sale pose.

National Vendor Declarations have been an essential part of the livestock selling process since 1994. They disclose information about the history and quality of the stock to the buyer. Likewise a bjd Vendor Declaration provides information about the level of assurance or bjd status of the herd of origin of the cattle being offered for sale.

Options for Vendor Declarations for Beef or Dairy cattle

There are three different declaration forms which may be used to disclose the bjd status or level of assurance of a herd, depending on whether the stock are beef, dairy or a cross and testing history.

1. Dairy cattle – The National Dairy bjd Assurance Score measured on a scale of 0 to 10 points, rates the risk of bjd for dairy cattle. The ‘Score’ can either be ‘declared’ using the National bjd Assurance Score Declaration form or calculated and written in Section 9 (other information) on a National Vendor Declaration form. For further details on the National bjd Dairy Assurance Score, refer to the Agriculture Information Note AG1187 - National bjd Dairy Assurance Sore, the higher the score the higher the assurance.
2. Beef Cattle – National Animal Health Statement for Johne’s disease Status of Beef Cattle. This declaration form is designed for beef cattle herds, especially those declaring a Beef Only or CattleMAP status. For further information of Beef Only, refer to the Agriculture Information Note AG1170 – Beef Only; a new way of trading beef cattle in South Eastern Australia.
3. A non-specific basic bjd Vendor Declaration form suitable for either beef cattle, dairy-beef cross (F1) cattle and CattleMAP herds. This declaration forms allows the vendor to state the bjd status of the sale cattle and indicate the bjd zone of origin of the stock, (refer to Agriculture Note: Zoning for Bovine Johne's disease), and the testing history (if any) of the sale cattle and/or herd of origin.

Prospective cattle purchases should always enquire as to the disease status of any cattle they are considering purchasing and request a copy of any Vendor Declarations from the vendor or their selling agent. Bjd vendor declarations are a quality assurance measure. Do not be afraid to ask for a vendor declaration when purchasing cattle.

Vendor declarations are a legal document, and making a false or misleading statement about the disease status of cattle being sold can result in legal action.

Further information

Further information about bjd can be obtained from your private veterinarian, DPI Animal Health staff or refer to the DPI web site: http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/farming/bjd.

The National bjd Dairy Assurance Score declaration form is available from the Dairy Australia web site: www.dairyaustralia.com.au/bjd or the DPI web site.

The National Animal Health Statement for Johne’s disease Status of Beef Cattle is available from the DPI web site or Animal Health Australia web site: www.animahealthaustralia.com.au/programs/jd.

The bjd Vendor Declaration is available from DPI Animal Health staff.

Acknowledgements

The original version of this Agriculture Note was developed by Katie Rutter and published in November 2001. It was reviewed by Lachlan King in December 2005.

This November 2010 version was updated by Dr David Champness, Biosecurity Victoria.