The Johne's Disease Research Consortium (JDRC) was set up in 2008 by Beef + Lamb New Zealand, DairyNZ and Deer Industry New Zealand to bring some coordinated effort to the study of JD in NZ - and specifically, to develop tools for NZ farmers to manage JD on-farm. The bacterium is widespread in NZ ruminants, but the levels of clinical disease are relatively low. Richard Whittington is a professor in the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney, and was in NZ to speak to producers and researchers at a JDRC workshop. He holds a wealth of knowledge around diagnostics and sheep and control programmes for JD.