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Talk to vet before VFD takes effect
With the Veterinary Feed Directive set to take effect within six months, livestock producers need to have a solid relationship with a vet. Dr. Dave Pyburn with the National Pork Board tells Brownfield that by the first of the year, producers will have to have a vet’s say-so to use antimicrobial drugs in food animals.
“So they should sit down with their veterinarian and they should review what they’re using right now,” said Pyburn. “Is that still what we need to use, are there things that we can do management-wise on this farm or in our system to prevent diseases so we can maybe decrease the need to use antibiotics.”
Pyburn says it’s important to build a veterinary client-patient relationship before the directive takes effect January first.
“That veterinarian needs to have taken responsibility for diagnosing disease on your farm and for advising you on the use of antimicrobials,” he said, “and he needs to be familiar with your management practices and your animals and the issues that you can have within your system as far as disease.”
A veterinarian’s guidance will be especially important, said Pyburn, if a producer has feed containing affected drugs left over at the end of the year.
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