A voluntary control programme for Johne’s disease, the Irish Johne’s Control Programme (IJCP) has been implemented in Ireland since 2017. The objective of this observational study was to assess Irish beef and dairy farmers’ Johne’s disease knowledge, implemented management practices and IJCP opinions. A questionnaire open to dairy and beef farmers was distributed via social media and email. In total 126 responses were used for this study; these responses came from mostly young farmers (18–25 years old) and represent a small proportion of the total number of dairy and beef farmers in Ireland whose average age is 55. Most respondents claimed to know what Johne’s disease was (73%; 92/126) and associated the disease to loss of body condition (68%; 78/114) and diarrhoea (59%; 67/114). Twenty-eight respondents (mostly dairy farmers; 22/28) reported positive cases in their premises. And 38% reported to implement management practices to prevent Johne’s disease transmission within or into their herd (i.e. management of milk for calf consumption and isolation of Johne’s test-positive or newly purchased stock; 47/124). Eighteen percent (22/125) of respondents were, at the time of questionnaire or previously, members of the IJCP. The main benefits reported by some of the participating farmers were identification of positive cases (29%; 4/14), and management of milk for calf consumption (21%; 3/14). While the main disadvantage was inaccurate testing methods (50%; 10/20). The main reasons reported for the lack of participation in the IJCP were not being aware of the programme (52%; 53/102) and not having a Johne’s disease problem on the farm (48%; 49/102). In conclusion, this study suggests that while young farmers are aware of Johne’s disease, their participation in the IJCP is limited and could benefit from further promotion. Studies representing the wider farming community in Ireland are warranted to gather non-biased input and contribute to Johne’s disease control in Ireland.

中文翻译：

---

农民对约翰氏病的了解以及对爱尔兰约翰氏病控制计划的看法：主要由年轻农民回答的在线调查结果

爱尔兰约内氏病自愿控制计划——爱尔兰约内氏病控制计划 (IJCP) 自 2017 年起在爱尔兰实施。这项观察性研究的目的是评估爱尔兰牛肉和奶农对约内氏病的了解、实施的管理实践和 IJCP 意见。通过社交媒体和电子邮件向奶牛场和肉牛场农民开放了一份调查问卷。本研究总共使用了 126 个回复；这些答复大多来自年轻农民（18-25 岁），仅占爱尔兰平均年龄 55 岁的乳制品和牛肉农民总数的一小部分。大多数受访者声称知道约翰氏病是什么（73%；92 /126) 并将该疾病与身体状况丧失 (68%; 78/114) 和腹泻 (59%; 67/114) 相关。28 名受访者（主要是奶农；22/28）报告其经营场所出现阳性病例。38% 的奶牛报告称实施了管理措施，以防止约翰氏病在其牛群内或牛群内传播（即对犊牛食用牛奶进行管理，并隔离约翰氏病检测呈阳性或新购买的牲畜；47/124）。百分之十八 (22/125) 的受访者在问卷调查时或之前是 IJCP 的成员。一些参与农民报告的主要好处是识别阳性病例（29%；4/14）和管理犊牛消耗的牛奶（21%；3/14）。而主要缺点是测试方法不准确（50%；10/20）。据报道，缺乏参与 IJCP 的主要原因是不了解该计划（52%；53/102）以及农场没有约翰氏病问题（48%；49/102）。总之，本研究表明，虽然年轻农民了解约翰氏病，但他们对 IJCP 的参与有限，可以从进一步的推广中受益。代表爱尔兰更广泛农业社区的研究有必要收集无偏见的信息，并为爱尔兰的约翰病控制做出贡献。