Canadian Quality Milk On-Farm Food Safety Program - Centre ...

Canadian Quality Milk
unstable and result in higher concentrations of antibiotic being injected
into an animal.
• Signature or initials of the person treating.
When veterinarians administer an extra label treatment to an animal on the farm, the
following options are acceptable:
1) Leave written instructions detailing the treatment administered (e.g.
animal, dosage, and withdrawal times).
2) Initial the record in the producer’s treatment record.
3) Have the producer record the treatments administered by the veterinarian
and indicate that the veterinarian treated the animal.
Ultimately, the producer is responsible to ensure that all treatments administered to
dairy cattle are recorded.
Record treatments for all cattle on the farm (e.g. calves, heifers, dry cattle, bulls,
etc). Pesticides applied to an animal are considered treatments as well.
Rule of Thumb:
If a product has on the label or on the veterinary prescription:
• A milk or meat withdrawal, producers must record its use.
• No milk or meat withdrawal, producers do not need to record
its use.
If you treat a group of animals, separate treatment entries are not required for each
animal, but each treated animal must be accounted for, for example, a range of animal
identification numbers is adequate. It is also possible to record treatments of groups, as
long as a producer can determine which animals were in which group at the specific
time of treatment. A herd inventory may be necessary in this case.
An animal’s common or barn name is not an adequate form of identification. Any
eventual milker (e.g. relief milker) has to be able to identify each animal. If names are
used, some system of permanent identification (e.g. list of names cross-referenced with
ear-tag numbers) has to be available. Stall cards are not adequate either. Permanent
identification, such as cow number, must be crossed-referenced on the stall card.
Sample Options for Recording Repetitive and Multiple Livestock Treatments
Purpose: to simplify record keeping for cows that receive the same treatment at
every milking, and where groups of cows all receive the same treatment as often
occurs with breeding synchronization programs. Both these situations often result in
the use of animal health products that have a withdrawal for meat even if they do not
have a withdrawal for milk. There is a need to ensure the safety of both milk and
meat from these treated cows. If producers follow the procedures outlined below,
they can simplify their records while minimizing the risk by observing any withdrawal
periods before milking or shipping treated cattle.
June 2010 4—21