By Heidi Carroll
2017 Animal Care Wednesday Webinars
Husbandry Practices in the Spotlight
During the November 1st Animal Care Wednesday Webinar, we heard from Rob Eirich, Nebraska BQA (Beef Quality Assurance) Coordinator, and Doug Bear, Iowa BQA Coordinator. Both Rob and Doug have been actively involved in the industry discussions between packers, cattlemen, and industry organizations with regards to the development of a standardized on-farm assessment program. They described its importance to the beef industry, the key points of the BQA feedyard assessment, and walked through what it takes to complete it.
What are assessments?
Simply put, assessments are a review of a farm or ranch by an assessor that help managers benchmark their current level of cattle care and discover areas they may be able to improve. The BQA Feedyard Assessment looks at several areas of the operation.
- Written standard operating procedures (SOPs) for seventeen specific tasks such as a herd health plan, handling, shipping, and euthanasia.
- Complete records for treatments, health-related procedures, drug inventory, and employee training.
- Daily observations of husbandry practices such as water tanks, pen maintenance, and feed bunks, as well as observing cattle hygiene.
- Maintenance of critical areas and equipment involved in cattle care.
- Observations of handling practices while cattle are worked through a chute.
Why do an assessment?
Today’s food supply is more than just nutritious, it is a vastly interactive business with consumers constantly sharing pictures of their food creations online. Some choose to promote certain husbandry practice over others based on emotion or ethical principles instead of research and the basic human need nutritional survival. In short, consumers want to know how and where their beef is raised to be sure it is safe, high quality, and was raised humanely. Beyond the families that are the end consumer of beef, processors want verified sources of the product they distribute to maintain their creditability. Let’s be honest, beef producers desire product integrity and are proud to produce healthy beef. These BQA assessments allow producers to share about the best management practices they use every day with their cattle.
Who wants them done?
Beyond the why do them, let’s discuss who is specifically asking for the assessments to be completed.
- Consumers/retailers: McDonalds has statements regarding sustainably sourcing beef. Wendy’s has also made statements that by 2019 they desire for 90% of their beef to be from BQA certified operations.
- Processors: Tyson has the FarmCheck program that is typically completed by a 3rd party auditing company and encourages their producers to become BQA certified and implement BQA feedyard assessments. Cargill has statements that they want approximately 80% of their suppliers to complete BQA assessments by 2018. Other processors may continue to follow these industry leaders.
- Producers: Producers desire to maintain current market accessibility as well as potentially open new markets for beef. In order to accomplish this domestically or foreign, producers recognized the value of implementing best management practices and documenting their care practices.