Economic assessment of different risk level standards of Johne's disease on Scottish beef farming system

An economic impact of three levels of Johne’s Disease (JD) Risk Standard levels on Scottish beef farms is considered using a farm level economic model. The three JD risk level standards are: i. Risk level 1&2, where all animals are disease free; ii. Risk level 3, where a farm has 3% of animals to be tested positive, and iii. Risk level 4, where a farm has 5% of animals to be tested positive for the disease. Farm level data from 85 beef farms taken from the Farm Business Survey 2024 dataset is used in the model under these three disease risk level scenarios compared with a baseline scenario which assumes farms do not follow disease prevention practices. The results projected Scottish beef farms to benefit from following JD control practices on farms. These farms improve farm net profit by up to 11% if they follow disease control rules on farms.