What's New in Quality Assurance 

August, 2022
Colleen Larson, Regional Dairy, UF/IFAS Extension

Consumers and retailers increasingly question where their food comes from and how it is produced. Quality programs, i.e., Beef Quality Assurance and various vaccination programs, have increased supply, improved quality, and decreased the incidences of injections site blemishes. Despite farmer’s and rancher’s diligent commitment and work in their herds, animal welfare is a growing concern across food animal industries. Animal industries should be prepared for species specific animal care programs required by processors and retailers in the near future. For cattle, a new area of interest is the care and welfare of calves. Although it is difficult to provide guidance and recommendations for raising calves because of variance on different operations, the new CCQA Manual has accepted this challenge to help improve calf welfare. Since the Florida Beef industry is primarily in the business of raising calves, producers need to understand the expectations and requirements of this program.

The mission of the Calf Care Quality Assurance Program as stated in the manual is:

 “The Calf Care and Quality Assurance program promotes a mindset — a way of thinking — that prompts calf raisers to approach management decisions with thoughtfulness and an appreciation for the responsibility they have to their animals, consumers, the environment, and the broader cattle industries in the United States.”

While the intent of this manual specifically addresses common conditions at calf raising operations, the broader cattle industry includes calves in cow calf ranches. Calves that are weaned before shipping would also fall under calf raising facilities. The goal of the program is three fold;

  1. Recommend animal welfare guidelines and production practices that are appropriate to a facility that producers can realistically meet or exceed while ensuring food safety and quality.

  2. Provide training, certifications, educational resources, self-assessments, and guidance for adopting these guidelines to achieve desired outcomes for calf health and welfare.

  3. Establish a foundation and framework for excellent animal care. Producers must take forward steps and instill excellence in animal care daily through their farms' cultures by way of active leadership, oversight, and management.

The area covered in the program include:

Calf Health including: health management plans, identification, drug use (stewardship, residue avoidance, and record keeping), morbidity and mortality, vaccinations, biosecurity and sanitation, non-ambulatory animals, euthanasia, transportation, monitoring of production and performance, lameness and locomotion.

While the intent of this manual specifically addresses common conditions at calf raising operations, the broader cattle industry includes calves in cow calf ranches. Calves that are weaned before shipping would also fall under calf raising facilities. The goal of the program is three fold;

Animal Handling and Stockmanship including: basic handling, movement, restraint, animal handling and processing measures, broken tales, tail docking, animal abuse and neglect.

Management and Care including: water and feed, nutrition, body condition, resting area (space allowance and bedding), hygiene and cleanliness, hock and knee injuries, environment quality, social contact, exercise and freedom of movement, routine procedures, castration, supernumerary teat removal.

Personnel Training and Emergency Preparedness including: employee training and continuing education, emergency preparedness.

While several of the areas covered in these sections may not apply to a cow calf ranch, some of the measures are routinely taken (even if not written down).  Business management expert, Peter Drucker, said “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Keeping a record of many of these measures will not only provide the opportunity to improve, but I will also prepare the operation for programs like the Calf Care Quality Assurance program. Programs like these provide the opportunity to evaluate, improve, and add value to the beef product being raised. The manual and training resources are available on-line at https://www.calfcareqa.org/ if you are interested in learning more about this new program.

 

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