DES MOINES, Iowa — On Jan. 1, the U.S. livestock industries will face more stringent antibiotic controls but nobody yet knows how many farmers and feed manufacturers are going to get snagged in the details.
The use of antibiotics deemed medically important for human treatment will be restricted for livestock use, available only to treat or prevent disease and banned for growth promotion.
If a farmer needs medicated feed, he will need to get a veterinarian to compose an official Veterinary Feed Directive, which then has to be passed onto a mill. To have a vet that can provide a VFD, a farmer must have a relationship with that vet and the vet needs to have inspected the farm’s operations.
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Discussion on the changes occupied much time at the World Pork Expo.
“This year we are asking producers to be ready,” said Derrick Sleezer, the outgoing president of the U.S. National Pork Board.
Very large hog farms, hog production companies and major feed millers are believed to be almost ready for the new regime.
However, the understanding of independent and small farmers, along with small feed companies and standalone mills, worries the industry.
“It’s much easier in large systems to get the information disseminated,” said Jan Archer, the new NPB president.
“It’s much harder for smaller, individual producers.”
For instance, farmers could get into trouble if they feed old medicated feed to pigs for which they don’t have a VFD for a specific situation that a veterinarian has approved. Feed probably can’t just be “used up,” a couple of veterinarians said during the Expo.
And farmers will need to keep their feed labels for two years in case they are inspected.
The same diligence needs to be followed by feed mills.
Vet Sam Holst said farmers might need to have their veterinarian visit every six months to keep apprised of how the farm is operating in order to have a deep enough understanding to be able to issue a VFD if the producer calls when a disease threat appears.
“Availability of vets for Veterinary Feed Directives is a concern,” said Archer.
“There are areas of the country that are not well covered.”
