Feeder bull testing for Israel

Attention

• Accredited veterinarians
• Australian Livestock Exporters' Council
• Departmental staff
• Licenced livestock exporters
• LiveCorp
• Meat and Livestock Australia

Purpose

To reiterate to livestock exporters and accredited veterinarians how they must comply with the Trichomonas foetus (T. foetus) and Campylobacter fetus subs. Veneralis (C. fetus) testing requirements for feeder cattle (non-castrated males) being prepared for export to Israel.

Key points

• The import requirements for feeder cattle (non-castrated males) destined to Israel include testing requirements for T. foetus and C. fetus.
• For each consignment, exporters may choose to either test every animal from a property of origin (individual testing) or test a sample of the animals from a property of origin (property testing) in accordance with the import requirements.
• Exporters may choose to perform individual testing for a proportion of the consignment and property testing for the remaining proportion.
• To demonstrate compliance with these import requirements, exporters must hold and/or provide information consistent with the instructions below.
• For property testing, the department has developed and provided exporters, upon request, with an epidemiological calculator and guidance material to facilitate determining how many animals on the property of origin need to be tested. Some of this material is at Attachment A.
• Consistent with previous advice to exporters, the results of property testing are not valid for multiple consignments. Where an exporter chooses to undertake property testing, new testing must be done for every consignment.

Instructions

1. Exporters of feeder cattle (non-castrated males) to Israel must arrange for the animals to be tested in accordance with the importing country requirements.
2. For the department to issue the necessary health certification, for each option, the exporter must receive the following information from the veterinarian(s) who did the testing:
3. a. For individual testing, the veterinarian's record of testing each individual animal and the laboratory test results with an included identification/tag list.
   b. For property testing, the veterinary declaration and spreadsheet to confirm the testing of breeding bulls for each pathogen in accordance with the Israeli import requirements. These must include details of the total numbers of breeding bulls on each Property Identification Code (PIC), number of breeding bulls tested, and the date and results of testing.
   Note: For property testing, a breeding bull is a bull that weighs 250kg or more.
3. Consistent with the regulatory framework, exporters must hold and/or provide the records listed at item 2 depending on which option(s) they choose for each consignment.
4. Exporters should contact livestockexp@aff.gov.au to request a copy of the epidemiological calculator and guidance material if needed.

Attachment A:
Minimum sample sizes for property testing based on test sensitivity of 89% to provide 95% confidence of detection at a prevalence of 5%.

Note: A property of origin must have a minimum of 28 breeding bulls in order for property testing to take place. A statistically significant result cannot be achieved for 27 breeding bulls or less. For a property of origin with 27 breeding bulls or less, all individual bulls for export must be tested as per the importing country's requirements.

Note: For property testing, a breeding bull is a bull that weighs 250kg or more.