Mr. David Graham:

Certainly, the more testing we do and the more extended the period over which we do it, the more confident we will be, either that a herd that is testing negative is free from infection or that we are dealing with an infected herd. A key point to make, drawing on the characteristics of Johne's disease, is that test and removal is only one element of a control programme, and as important, if not more important, is the on-farm risk assessment and management plan. Within the framework of the programme, there is a standardised pro forma template for an on-farm veterinary risk assessment, which goes through each of the production stages from calving up to weaning and, on a farm-by-farm basis, analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the various points within those production stages. After this, the practitioner and the farmer will agree what the top two or three points on which to focus. On one farm that may be addressing common calving pens and on another farm it might be the use of feeding of pool colostrum.

It would be a tailored management approach on each farm because, as has been highlighted, three or four years down the line we are picking up the damage that is done today in this year's calf crop. If they are infected now, it will be three or four years down the line before we pick them up. The challenge is through management, and effective management is turning the tap off so that we do not get those animals coming through three or four years down the line. Certainly, the more testing that is done, the better handle we will have on that.