Immune-based diagnostic techniques have been commonly used in the identification of paratuberculosis infected animals. For the evaluation of the humoral response, ELISA techniques are widely used and positivity is seen in a great number of animals showing clinical disease and high bacterial load. Cellular immune response based tests are usually positive in the early phases or latent infections. In herds with paratuberculosis, it has been seen that the culling rate is increased, even among cattle with no obvious clinical signs of the disease.Three Freisian dairy cattle herds, showing clinical cases of paratuberculosis, have been included in this study. A total of 485 cattle (> 10 months-old) have been tested by means of ELISA, agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID) and avian intradermal skin test (ST). For a period of one year, the herds have been followed-up and all the cattle, culled for any reason, recorded. The relationship between the response to the diagnostic tests and the possibility of being culled in the following year has been statistically evaluated.The 43% of cattle positive to ELISA test, 100% of positive to AGID and 27% of positive reactors to ST were culled in a period of 12 months after performing the techniques. Among those cattle showing a negative result to ELISA, a 19% were eliminated, as well as a 23% and a 25% of those negative to AGID and ST respectively. A significant relationship has been seen between positivity to ELISA and AGID and the culling of cattle, for any reason, whereas they are not related to the reaction to ST