Preparing for VFD: 4 changes that affect poultry farmers

In less than three months, the Food and Drug Administration’s new veterinary feed directive standards will be put into place.

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Photo by Terrence O'Keefe
Photo by Terrence O'Keefe

In less than three months, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s new veterinary feed directive (VFD) standards will be put into place.

Starting January 1, 2017, the use of medically important antibiotics will no longer be allowed for growth promotion and these drugs will now require veterinary oversight (i.e. a prescription for feed-grade and water-based antibiotics). To obtain such drugs, U.S. producers – and feed mills – will now need a VDF a written statement provided by a veterinarian that authorizes a client use of a VFD drug or combination VFD drug in or on animal feed to treat animals.

To help clarify what these changes will mean to poultry farmers, the University of Minnesota’s Poultry Extension along with the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association and the Chicken and Egg Association of Minnesota, hosted a panel discussion on the VFD on September 13. Dr. Jill Nezworski, a veterinarian with Blue House Veterinary & Laboratory, and Pete Klaphake, a turkey farmer in Minnesota, answered prepared and submitted questions about the transition.

1. VCPR

Nezworski said a veterinary client patient relationship, or VCPR, is the key component of the new guidelines. It means, essentially, the vet is licensed and familiar with the client, their farm and their animals. Nezworksi, who worked with hogs at Christensen Farms and layers and pullets at Michael Foods before forming her own independent practice, said it’s essential to have an ongoing, proactive relationship between the veterinarian and the farmer rather than an emergency-based relationship. At a bare minimum, she said, vets and farmers should be scheduling on-site visits at least once a year and working on keeping their communication strong over the long term.

Klaphake, who works with Nezworksi, said he used to communicate with veterinarians over the phone primarily, but since he’s worked with Blue House the relationship has become much more hands-on. He said Nezworksi knows the farm and the system, and because of that he’s not afraid to ask for explanations and recommendations.

2. Record keeping

The VFD standards will include strict rules for record keeping. Nezworksi said at first it will take some feeling out to determine level of detail the FDA and the state agencies will really expect.

The bare minimum, she said, is keeping a running inventory of what’s on the farm and a usage log showing where medication ends up and why it’s being used. She recommended using a common storage site for all medication and then maintaining a usage log for each barn or grow-out house. She said the key thing about record keeping is ensuring they are intelligible. If you can’t make sense of your own records, she said, that’s not good enough.

Klaphake said his farm is still formulating its record keeping and inventory plans, but it’s planning on keeping all drugs received from distributors in a centralized location then maintaining a log for each part of its operation.

3. Prescriptions

Another key plank of the new standard is the need for a prescription. Nezworski and Klaphake provided some clarification on prescription policies under the new VFD standards.

Now, for a farmer to legally have certain products they will need to have a prescription on hand. Nezworksi said the veterinarian will be responsible for issuing prescriptions and enabling distributors to make regular shipments to keep the regulated product on hand or an immediate drop shipment. Nezworksi said works to keep the major distributors informed of who has a prescription, but it’s uncertain if all distributors will work like that in the future.

As a general rule, Nezworksi said, prescriptions should be retained for up to two years after the flock has been marketed. But, the amount of time can vary depending on the prescription and the veterinarian.

4. Drug storage and disposal

Nezworksi said she’s worked on small and large operations and seen how drug storage varies from warehouses to a small segment of shelves in a barn. Klaphake said he keeps them in one specific spot on a farm and tries to keep storage simple in order to ensure people understand the storage protocols and keep track of the drugs.

Nezworksi said the most important thing is keeping track of the drugs and logging how they are used. Regulators are likely to be pickier with larger operations than smaller ones, she said, but the basic standard is not let free any products you aren’t supposed to.

As for drugs not used, and possibly disposing them, Nezworski said to maintain the standard of logging and record keeping first, then look label guidance about opened products. If the product is expired and needs to be disposed, Nezworski recommended consulting with the product’s manufacturer or distributor and possibly with a veterinarian as well. Veterinarians may have more specific information about a product’s shelf life and the flexibility of their expiration dates. 

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