Market Assurance Programs (MAPs)

The Australian Johne’s disease (JD) Market Assurance Programs (MAPs) are voluntary programs for producers to identify and promote their high assurance (low-risk) JD status to clients.

Herds and flocks participating in the MAPs are not accredited as free of JD, but they have a lower risk of being infected compared to non-assessed herds and flocks.

Producers can minimise the spread of JD by sourcing replacement animals from herds or flocks in the MAPs.

Participating herds or flocks are tested to determine their disease status and managed to reduce the risk of infection. Over 4 years, herds or flocks can progress from Monitored Negative 1 (MN1) through to Monitored Negative 3 (MN3) status, which is the highest level of assurance.

The longer a herd or flock is in the MAP and the higher the status, the greater the confidence that it is not infected.

Search for participating sheep flocks and goat herds in your region — and narrow the search results by breed, property, owner, stud, nearest town, or certificate number.

For SheepMAP

For GoatMAP

Livestock breeders can use MAPs to assure clients that their herds or flocks have been assessed for JD using a nationally consistent method, and that their animals are being managed to protect them from JD.

MAPs are designed to:

• provide a pool of low-risk replacement animals for producers who want to reduce the risk of introducing infection, including properties restocking as part of a Property Disease Management Plan (PDMP).
• allow producers in high prevalence areas to demonstrate the low-risk status of their flocks or herds so they can sell replacement animals.
• facilitate the movement of low-risk animals between properties.

• JD has a long incubation, usually several years. Most infected animals do not show the typical signs of the disease for some years, although they may be shedding bacteria in faeces and infecting other animals.
• Current tests have limited ability to detect individual animals infected with JD, especially when they are young or have only been recently infected.
• Most replacement animals are bought when they are young, when testing gives very little confidence that they are not infected.
• The MAPs rely on repeat testing of large numbers of adult animals to determine the status of the herd or flock, and testing over several years can increase assurance.
• Without an objective assessment like the MAP, vendors can give little assurance about the JD status of their animals. A vendor may have no idea whether a herd or flock is infected and may continue to sell rams and ewes or bucks and does, putting clients at risk of infection.

1. For sheep – confirm that your local veterinarian is approved to supervise your property or find a MAP-approved vet on our database—narrow your search by name, jurisdiction or nearest town. Veterinarians offering SheepMAP services are certified by the Chief Veterinary Officer in your state as meeting the set requirements. For goats – any veterinarian may be used for GoatMAP (although vets on the MAP-approved database are a good start).
2. Download the appropriate MAP manual – info can be found under the relevant species heading below.
3. Arrange for the vet to complete a property risk assessment and initial testing.
4. Check the relevant state website for details on joining MAPs. You may need to provide a joining fee, the fee is payable to your state department of primary industries/agriculture.

Before agreeing to supervise a producer’s SheepMAP flock, veterinarians must hold a certificate from the state’s Chief Veterinary Officer stating that they have met the requirements.

Online training is provided to veterinarians who want to participate in the MAPs.

• Read the MAP Veterinary Guidelines to better understand the role of vets in the MAPs.
• For SheepMAP – undergo the APAV and MAP training (MAP training recommended for GoatMAP)
• Contact your state MAP coordinator to participate in the SheepMAP.

Annual review

Producers in a MAP need to arrange an annual review (internal audit) of their property and MAP-approved flock or herd. The supervising veterinarian completes the annual review and identifies ways for the producer to improve the implementation of the MAP.

External review

In recognition of the number of audits already successfully completed by many MAP participants, the high level of compliance demonstrated for a long periodand with the review of the National BJD Strategic Plan, the MAP Reference Group decided to postpone MAP external audits (July 2015).

This decision will be in place until further notice. The livestock peak industry bodies may review this decision at some point in the future.

Audit costs

The producer pays the cost of the audits.

Once enrolled in the MAP, commercial producers can the MAP logo (e.g. in sales catalogues) to promote the JD status of their herd or flock.

Read the Rules governing the use of the MAP logo and then complete the MAP logo authorisation form to apply for approval to use the MAP logo in your commercial operation.