Are we feeding Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in calf milk replacer?

Authors

  • B. B. Kunkel Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706
  • I. R. Grant lnstitute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Rd., Belfast, NI BT9 7BL
  • A. C. G. Foddai lnstitute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Rd., Belfast, NI BT9 7BL
  • J. C. Tarrant Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706
  • S. M. McGuirk Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706
  • M. T. Collins Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20163460

Keywords:

Johne's disease, milk replacer, organisms, infection, MAP organisms, powdered milk product

Abstract

When advising farmers on how to control Johne's disease, the number 1 recommendation is to avoid feeding waste milk to calves and instead to feed them calf milk replacer (CMR). Obviously, this advice is based on the assumption that milk replacer is free of live Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis (MAP) organisms capable of causing infection. No one has ever challenged this assumption. Preliminary work on CMR sourced in Wisconsin found that 1 of 8 (12.5%) samples tested positive for live MAP organisms by the peptide-mediated magnetic separation-phage assay (PMS-PA). Previously, 30 of 68 ( 44%) powdered milk products intended for human consumption were positive for live MAP by the same assay. The study objective was to expand the survey of CMR and to test for MAP as well as standard measures of microbiological quality.

Cover image of the 49th Conference Proceedings: An image of a herd of Angus cattle grazing in a field at dusk. Yellow background.

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Published

2016-09-15

Issue

2016

Section

Research Summaries 2