A Manitoba based swine veterinarian suggests the main considerations to keep in mind when using veterinary drugs are prudent use, food safety and worker safety.
"Why Proper Handling of Veterinary Drugs is a Good Investment" will be discussed as part of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2018 tomorrow and Thursday.
Dr. Judy Hodge, a doctor of veterinary medicine with Swine Health Professionals, says it's important to know what bugs are on your farm and how to treat them.
Clip-Dr. Judy Hodge-Swine Health Professionals:
There's two main considerations to keep in mind when using any kind of medication, whether it's a vaccine or an antibiotic or an anti-inflammatory.
The first one is prudent use so that means using it properly to minimize antimicrobial resistance and to make sure that you're using the right drug for the right bug so that you're actually treating the animal effectively so they can get healthier and the second consideration is food safety.
Once you've given an animal a vaccine or an antibiotic there's something called a drug withdrawal time and you must wait for that amount of time to pass before you slaughter the animal for food.
That protects the human food supply.
Also when you're administering these products it's important to use clean needles, sharp needles, clean syringes. highly detectable needles.
Risks to food safety for example could be a broken needle in the animal.
Not using the right dose is a risk because that can contribute to antimicrobial resistance and also injection site abscesses.
If the needles and syringes are dirty you can cause an abscess where the injection takes place.
We also recommend regular staff training, making sure that your staff understand how to clean syringes, what medications to use and how to administer them.
Dr. Hodge recommends establishing drug use protocols and keeping in close contact with your veterinarian.
Source : farmscape