Bovine Johne's disease: testing and import requirements for beef cattle travelling to WA

Johne’s Disease (JD) is caused by a bacterial infection with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, an organism that lives in the intestinal tract of ruminant animals, causing thickening of the intestine wall and gradual reduction in food absorption over time.  Affected animals are hungry, but cannot absorb the nutrients they are eating. They commonly have diarrhoea, and may also have “bottle jaw”, which is a result of low protein in the circulation, caused by malnutrition.  Animals with JD lose weight and may eventually die from starvation.  There is no treatment for the disease and pastoral properties impacted by the disease may have restricted market options. Currently, most south-east Asian live export markets require a property to have been disease free for at least 5 years. Eradication of JD from an infected herd is difficult with removal of the infected animals and extensive testing of the herd required.

Infected animals pass the JD bacterium in the faeces; it may then be transmitted between animals through faecal contamination of pasture, watercourses and yards. Direct heat and sunlight destroy the bacteria within 6 weeks, but in wet and shaded conditions, the organism can survive in the environment for more than a year.  Cattle are most often infected as calves, but as the bacterium is slow growing and the changes in the intestine take place over a prolonged period, infected animals may shed the organism and thus infect other animals, before showing any clinical signs.

The Johne’s Beef Assurance Score (J-BAS) is a risk management tool developed by the cattle industry and managed by Animal Health Australia, that provides a guide to the risk of JD occurring on a beef cattle property.  For more information on the requirements for JD testing and the scoring system, go to Animal Health's website. There are a range of laboratory testing options available to assess the herd risk for JD and to establish herd J-BAS status, however, diagnosis is challenging owing to the nature of the organism.  Further information on sampling is available at the Animal Health Australia website. With respect to check and sample testing herds to satisfy WA entry requirements, HT-J PCR or faecal culture are considered acceptable. If you require Western Australian import documents please follow this link to the Western Australian Government website.

For beef cattle entering Western Australia from the Northern Territory and Queensland, there are specific border controls that are designed to minimize the risk of JD in cattle entering WA, which differ from J-BAS testing requirements and the movement requirements for entry to other states.  The consignment must be accompanied by a declaration from the owner/producer stating that the animals meet the following conditions:

For further information on J-BAS requirements for cattle entering Western Australia from the Northern Territory, including further specific documentation for movement of animals not born in the NT, please contact your Regional Biosecurity Officer.