The Drovers CattleNetwork Daily featured a great reminder of the need for the veterinary-client-patient relationship to be planned before being executed. Set to go into effect January 1, 2017, Veterinary Feed Directice (VFD) rules may seem like a long way away, but producers need to start working with their veterinarians now to develop plans.
Source: Drovers CattleNetwork Daily, November 16, 2015.
During a meeting lead by Jessica Laurin, large-animal veterinarian and president of the Academy of Veterinary Consultants, beef producers were informed of the VFD rule which will shift medically important feed-grade antibiotics to the responsibility of veterinarians. On that list are tetracycline, chlorotetracycline, oxytetracycline, aminoglycosides, potentiated sulfas and macrolides.
According to University of Tennessee Extension Veterinarian Lew Strickland in a separate interview, “These items are going to become script items only.” This means that for producers to use these antibiotics in their herds, a licensed veterinarian must write an order for a specific group of livestock to receive them within a specific time period. These two components of a VFD are referred to as the “expiration date” and “duration of use.”
INSIGHTS: With fall and early winter work well underway, livestock veterinarians, reps who service them and their customers must pay heed to the recommendations in this post. Those who plan now will have time to spend with their families during the holidays next fall and winter while the rest of the production world will be scrambling at the last minute. Routine prescription updates and getting rid of drugs left over after scripts expire are also critical to planning.