"We’re going to hit Johne’s with everything we have and beat it."

That’s what Dale Stein, LeRoy, N.Y., told Dairy Today readers a year ago in the feature story "Yanking Johne’s Chain" (November/December 1997, pages 12-14). At the time, the Stein dairy was milking a herd in which more than half the cows tested Johne’s positive with a fecal culture.

A second fecal culture, performed a few months after the story appeared, indicated that less than one-third of the herd tested positive. And when results come back from a third culture, to be taken before this Thanksgiving, the Steins expect more good news: possibly 20% or less of the herd positive.

"Our goal of being totally negative is feasible," Dale says. "In the future, we can become a closed herd. And in time, we won’t have to vaccinate for Johne’s."

Dale, along with brothers Ray and Ken and their families, plus the dairy’s seven employees and a team of veterinarians and consultants have worked diligently since implementing their three-way attack plan—management, testing and vaccinating—in October 1996. They set aggressive goals: (1) reduce clinical disease in first-calf heifers to zero by the end of 1999, (2) increase herd size [currently at 650] to 700 by 2000, and (3) eliminate clinical Johne’s in five years.

This past year, considered their second full year on the program, was filled with change, challenges and positive results. Here are the highlights:

Herd health is excellent and milk production increased 5 lb./cow/day. Management improvements the Steins made are the usual ones that consultants recommend: Keep cattle clean, dry and comfortable. Provide adequate feed and water. Adhere to a herd health program prepared with their veterinarian. The Steins zeroed in on these areas and started feeding the milking herd a high-forage diet.

They still feed a 50-50 corn silage-haylage forage ratio, but they have bumped up the level of forage in the overall ration. They used to feed half forage, half grain. Now the ration they feed the high-producing group contains 59% forage; the low-producing group, 70% forage.

"We changed rations last November and it took until April to get the milk increase," Dale says.

Dry-matter intakes also went up, to a 56-lb. average in the winter and a 50-lb. average in the summer.

"We believe the high-forage diet is slowing Johne’s down, but we have no way to prove it," Dale says. "We’re selling one cow a month for Johne’s now, that’s all. Before, we were selling four cows per month."

Adds Shelley, Ray’s wife: "The clinical expression of Johne’s has dramatically decreased on higher forage intakes. As many as 50 cows that tested positive the first time, tested as negatives on the second fecal test."

Teamwork works. Every worker and consultant on the Stein dairy knows and follows the Johne’s control protocol. Each month, the Stein team goes over a four-page management checklist with 64 points.

The list covers preventive management items (such as tossing refused cow rations, feeding colostrum from Johne’s-free cows, keeping moderate and heavy shedders in a separate group), cattle purchase stipulations, herd testing and Johne’s vaccination protocols and monitoring procedures.

While they work on Johne’s control, the team also strives to make other management improvements. The Steins recently singled out milking routine and milk quality as areas that would benefit from change. To improve the prepping procedure, they stopped predipping and went back to washing and drying teats with cloth towels. They added new milking unit take-offs, put in a chilling system and added a second bulk tank. And to show how much they appreciate the extra effort of all the dairy’s employees, the Steins decided to give them the milk quality bonus.

The team’s identity changed during the year, too. There are three new employees. Plus, the Steins switched to another nutritionist and added a farm financial analyst.

"We still struggle with the cost of Johne’s on the farm," Shelley says. "We hope [the financial analyst] can help us by comparing our numbers here with numbers from other farms."

The Steins are extremely grateful for the continuing support and expertise shared by the state’s Division of Animal Industry director John Huntley, state veterinarian Cricket Johnson and Cornell University field veterinarian Chris Rossiter.

"We cannot thank them enough for their constant concern and commitment," Shelley says.

Off to Canada to find heifers. When they tried to find local sources of clean, healthy replacements that met their specifications, the Steins hit repeated roadblocks. Initially, they planned to buy calves less than 30 days old (that hadn’t been dragged through a sale barn) from low-risk Johne’s herds and vaccinate them.

On older animals, they wanted to see production, genetic and health history records, as well as screen them for Johne’s using the ELISA test. But area cattle dealers and heifer raisers either refused to meet their specs or wouldn’t hold screened animals while the Steins waited for test results. Only one local farmer willingly works with them.

"Others have been put off or are afraid to find out if their cattle have Johne’s," says Shelley, "We can only hope they will see that they can aid the cattle industry and their own businesses by testing."

Shelley got a lead on a Canadian cattle agent so she made several trips to Ontario—a three-hour drive one way—to pick out 2-year-old heifers almost ready to calve. In about six months, she selected 100 head, which were delivered to the farm for less than they would have paid locally. They established a quarantine site two miles from the dairy, where they observed the heifers for about a month. "We made the commitment to adhere to our criteria, and we’re being rewarded now," Shelley adds.

Herd size has stabilized at 650 head, which surpasses the Steins’ goal of 600 for this year. They cull every moderate- and heavy-shedding cow that is not producing more than 20,000 lb. milk/year.

The herd’s first group of vaccinated heifers freshen in January. These animals look really good. Dale credits overall improvements in calf and heifer management with getting size on them. Heifers were calving at 25 months. But this group will push it down to 23.

Dale keeps the vaccinating part of the protocol in perspective. "To date, vaccinating has done nothing for us," he says. "All the improvements we’ve made are based on management changes." Shelley and Cricket handle the monthly vaccinating procedure. Shelley tags and tattoos ears; Cricket vaccinates. Each animal receives only one vaccination in its lifetime.

Looking ahead to 1999, the Steins realize they need to keep doing what they’re doing. They’d like to decrease the herd’s overall cull rate from the current 23% to 20% and increase milk production to 70 lb. milk/cow/day. They also seeded an exercise lot for the milking and dry herds to provide relief from walking on concrete all day.

They hoped to have their third annual whole-herd fecal test done in one day later this fall and processed at the Cornell lab as one batch. But the lab, which is small and understaffed, is having difficulty in processing the increasing volume of Johne’s fecal samples sent in by producers. So the Steins will have to sample their herd over two days and send the samples to two labs.

"We’ll probably end up sampling 60 to 70 animals every month after this because the labs are jammed," Dale says. One advantage to the monthly sampling is that the Steins will get back the culture results just before calving. "Then we’ll know what colostrum to use and what calves to raise and keep," Dale says. "If the cow is a moderate or heavy shedder, we won’t keep the calf."

Going public with their Johne’s battle has been a mixed blessing for the Steins. At first, the negative comments hurt. But as time went on, more people began to talk and ask them questions about Johne’s.

"Some of the myths we hear from other dairy producers are too sad to believe," Shelley says. One producer’s vet told him he could "smell a Johne’s cow" so there’s no need for testing. Another vet, using the ELISA test in a herd, set a risky culling standard that keeps Johne’s-positive cows in the herd. And at an Extension meeting, a vet told producers that the Johne’s vaccine must be given each year.

"We believe you can manage your way out of a Johne’s crisis having the right team, plan and testing in place and practiced," Shelley says. "Managing by the ‘head in the sand’ approach is an action for disaster."

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