The evolution of the FARM Animal Care program: Trends, priority issues and opportunities for veterinarians

Abstract

The FARM Program’s goal is to assist U.S. dairy farmers, par­ticipating cooperatives and processors in providing assurance to dairy buyers that U.S. dairy farmers care for their animals, workforce and land in a humane and ethical manner. Over 17,000 second-party evaluations and 480 third-party verifica­tions have been conducted on U.S. dairy farms under Version 4 of the animal care program. Though the majority of farms meet FARM standards, lack of a VCPR and herd health plan signed by the veterinarian in the past 12 months, missing/incomplete continuing education records for employees, not meeting the benchmark for broken tails, lack of pain control for disbud­ding, and incomplete drug treatment records are the most com­mon corrective actions. Overall, a high percentage of herds have met animal observation benchmarks (99% knee lesions, 98% body condition, 97% locomotion, 95% hock lesions, 91% hygiene, and 85% broken tails). Veterinarians are positioned as a critical resource in this program; they are not only needed to comply with program standards and when out of compliance, have a specific opportunity to consult, advise, guide and sup­port clients regarding the health and welfare of their herd.