National award recognises OJD biosecurity initiative

The flockowners of the former Broken Hill Rural Lands Protection Board – now part of the Western Livestock Health and Pest Authority – have won the Australian Farm Biosecurity Award for their efforts to keep ovine Johne's disease (OJD) out of sheep in the Broken Hill region.

Livestock Health and Pest Authority state councillor David Gowing and former Broken Hill RLPB director Max Hams accepted the award on behalf of Keith Allison at the first Rural and Outback Awards in Canberra on Saturday night.

The award recognises the 12-year program in which flockowners in the Broken Hill area demonstrated that their sheep had little to no risk of infection, and then worked together with vets and other staff from the former Broken Hill RLPB to create an OJD exclusion area.

David Gowing says that this award illustrates the value of producer-driven projects that the Livestock Health and Pest Authorities support.

"The success of this program depended on a broad commitment from flockowners to keep the area free of important diseases, and the strong working relationships between representatives of Broken Hill flockowners and animal health staff from the former Broken Hill RLPB and DPI," Mr Gowing said.

"The benefits that have come out of this program include greater market access for sheep from the OJD exclusion area, cost savings in not needing to vaccinate for the disease, and flockowners knowing their neighbours sheep dont pose a threat."

Out of the four finalists for the award, this group were unique in that the project was a voluntary initiative with one hundred percent of flockowners in the area volunteering to participate in the project.

"This program has established a precedent for communal action in dealing with biosecurity issues, which is something the Livestock Health and Pest Authorities actively encourage across NSW," Mr Gowing said.

"Broken Hill has been able to maintain nil OJD assessed prevalence, and these biosecurity measures will continue as long as flockowners continue to support them."

The Broken Hill group shared the farm biosecurity award with Queensland-based company Swift Australia. The award aims to reward the development and implementation of risk mitigation mechanisms to help secure farms from diseases, pests and weeds.

Media contact: Suzie Robinson 6391 3720 / 0428 465 378