Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE- Johne's disease cost Wisconsin approximately $100 million in cattle losses every year according to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Brooke Schmitz, a sophomore in animal science with emphases in science and dairy science at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, is doing something about it. Schmitz is working with Esther Ofulue, professor of biology, to find a cure for the disease.

"I work on a dairy so I see the effects of it on farmers. It's especially devastating to small farms. I wanted to be a part of helping stop this disease," said Schmitz.

Johne's is a bacterial disease of the intestinal tract that most commonly affects ruminant animals. Symptoms are diarrhea and rapid weight loss. Despite having a healthy appetite, the animals become emaciated because nutrients can not be absorbed. Johne's can be transferred through the placenta at birth, through feces and milk. Often, it is not recognized until months or years after contraction. Currently, there is no cure or treatment for the disease. However there is a vaccine that is given to one month old calves. The problem with the vaccine is the calves may already have been exposed to the disease before receiving the vaccine.

Schmitz is seeking a cure for the disease by creating Johne's resistant embryos. To do this, Schmitz takes unfertilized eggs from the ovaries of slaughtered cows. The eggs are then placed in a petri dish and fertilized with commercial semen to produce an embryo. The Johne's vaccine is then given to early stage embryo. Upon approval and receipt of a PURF grant, Schmitz will implant a vaccinated embryo into a cow that she will keep and care for at her home. A licensed vet will monitor the progress of the pregnancy. Once the calf is born, Schmitz will expose it to Johne's. If the calf does not contract the disease, the project will be successful. Upon the project's success, Schmitz plans to publish the findings in agriculture journals and make vaccinated embryos available to producers. Since the cattle would be resistant to Johne's for life, the cycle of the disease in the herd can be stopped. The benefit of this is that producers do not have to continuously purchase vaccinated embryos. They only have to implant embryos until the disease is eradicated in the herd.

Schmitz said the findings will benefit everyone from the producer to the consumer. When producers are not losing cows, they don't have to raise their milk prices and the savings get passed on to the consumer. Fewer losses also saves the dairy industry money as a whole, which improves Wisconsin's economy.

"I feel very passionately about this project. I've seen how it's riddled farmers. I'm passionate about finding a cure," said Schmitz.

Anyone wanting more information about the Johne's research may contact Schmitz at (563) 580-2512 or schmitzbr@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Brooke Schmitz, (563) 580-2512, schmitzbr@uwplatt.edu Written by: Krystle Kurdi, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, kurdik@uwplatt.edu