[Zootechnical procedures in the prevention of paratuberculosis on cattle farms. II. Analysis]

The present paper is an analysis of the zootechnical procedures adopted to prevent further distribution of infection on twenty-seven farms on which the animals were affected with Johne's disease. This analysis was based on an extensive questionnaire. Housing was not such on any of these farms that spreading of the faeces among the various age groups was ruled out. The designers failed to take the veterinary aspects into account in construction and arrangement of the shelters. The transmission of Johne's disease was possibly promoted by furnishing the shelters with a scraper system to remove the dung, which system also reached the compartment housing young cattle. Preventive procedures in the field of management were not carried out consistently on any of these farms. This was promoted by inadequate advice to stock farmers. These facts should be taken into account in the control of Johne's disease, as part of the preventive measures cannot be directly influenced by livestock farmers in these conditions.