 Hi, I'm Dr Mary Carr, Chief Veterinary Officer of South Australia and I'm pleased to welcome you to the Red Meat and Wool Growth Programme production brought to you by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, Livestock SA, Animal Health Australia and the University of Adelaide. Today we are exploring the Enhanced Abattoir Surveillance Programme with a focus on CLA or Cheesygland. Enhanced Abattoir Surveillance tracks the health conditions of sheep found at the abattoir. These findings are provided to producers to assist with planning around prevention and management of prevalent animal health conditions. Cheesygland or CLA is a fairly common condition in South Australian abattoirs. Over the last three years, one in five properties were found with sheep carrying CLA and one in ten consignment had reported cases. At the animal level, one in every 50 slaughter sheep is found with CLA. Since the inception of the Enhanced Abattoir Surveillance Programme in 2007, the frequency of CLA found in abattoirs has been progressively decreasing slowly but surely. This suggests that there is improvement in the management of this condition which is highly preventable. CLA is primarily found in mutants with one in 20 carcass affected and very rarely in lambs with only one in 1,000 carcass affected. This suggests that the risk of CLA accumulates with age and time. From a regional point of view, we mainly find cases of CLA from the northern passable region up north. And finally, although there's some viability across season, there's not a clear seasonality in CLA detection in abattoirs. CLA is, well the technical term is, contagious lymphatinitis, in other words a disease that spreads through and causes infection in lymph nodes, commonly known more as Cheesygland. Quite prevalent in sheep populations and goat populations for that matter, even though we have had a vaccine available since the 80s. The cause on farm is Carini Bacterium chudo tuberculosis and that name suggests it's actually similar to tuberculosis because it does cause these cheesy lumps localised in lymph nodes. So typically you'll only find the Cheesygland in lymph nodes which may be around the shoulder, maybe around the jaw, maybe in the lungs, maybe in the hind quarters. So the organism infects lymph nodes. Lymph nodes are the drainage points for the blood system and so hence why it's spread throughout the body but only where lymph nodes or the filters are collecting the organism. The organism is present in sheep of all ages, but it's also an environmental contaminant so it's a very difficult one to avoid and hence we don't look at trying to eradicate. But fortunately when the vaccine was developed in the early 80s, it's given us an option now to control it or minimise the prevalence. So the condition presents on farm as I say it may be inapparent in that most people may not even recognise the Cheesygland unless it happens to rupture at the time of handling. So for example at scanning time or shearing time, clutching time, sometimes you'll see a Cheesygland rupture and it's, as the name suggests, it's a pussy, cheesy looking, can be liquid or it can be quite firm and solid. CLA presents in a carcass in all the major lymph nodes, in particular the ones in the lungs. The CLA for the process means that all of these lymph nodes have to be removed, which can result in primal damage and also if there's a lot of lymph nodes affected, it's poemia, the whole carcass gets condemned. The impact of CLA for the producer is that the more lymph nodes that are removed, the carcass is damaged, therefore downgraded and also less weight. The inspectors with CLA are trained to palpate and visually examine all the lymph nodes in the carcass to detect CLA. Cheesygland's one of those things that pops up every now and then you see it maybe when a shearer hits one or something more than anything, I used to see it back in the shearing days, it's quite prevalent everywhere, but now days with the vaccines having Cheesygland incorporated, I think that seems to help control it and it's not such a big issue anymore. We tend to find it in the grown sheep, older sheep, if anything, like it's very rare to find now, like it's not, whether it's even a needle stick that's got infected or something that's probably what I'm seeing a bit of too, but we do a bit of home killing, so I do check on them, but we tend to only eat younger stock, so we find that there's no Cheesygland in them. There's really no treatment option for CLA or Cheesygland, but we do have the preventative management of vaccination with GlandVac, ideally users are always vaccinated a month or six weeks before lambing, an animal receives a full vaccination program, so for example primary dose at marking, perhaps a secondary or a booster at weaning, and then annual vaccination thereafter. I have a toss of violence, we do get one come back in the older sheep every now and then, but it's very rare now with the vaccine program we use, so that seems to help things a bit. In 2007 and 2021, the Department of Primary Industries and Regions managed the Enhanced Abattoir surveillance program at Lobothal and Murray Bridge, with funding from Estate and National Sheep Industry Funds, and National Industry Funding from Meat and Livestock Australia. It was the EAS program that provided producers with the feedback discussed in this video. Although EAS monitoring has ceased, there are plans in place to transition to entering South Australian data into the national system. This national data can inform the development and funding of appropriate industry and government initiatives on the ground to better support South Australian producers to reduce losses caused by unnecessary carcass trimming and to take advantage of premium markets. To assist producers, Animal Health Australia has partnered with PERSA to create the Sheep Health Conditions Carcass Impacts Tool, a 3D digital tool designed to show the industry what six common conditions look like on a carcass and give them an idea of how much trim may occur at the processor. Livestock SA encourages all producers to talk to their processors about what carcass and disease and condition data they can access from their consignments. Thanks for watching. We hope you have learned more about CLA or CheesyGland and the importance of managing sheep health with the help of enhanced abattoir surveillance. To find out more or get support with your business, contact your local Animal Health advisor from the Department of Primary Industries and Regions or the South Australian Livestock Biosecurity Extension Team through the Livestock SA office. The Red Meat and Wall Growth program is an initiative of the Government of South Australia and supported by Meat and Livestock Australia, the South Australian Sheep and Cattle Industry Funds and Sheep Connect SA.