Everyone likes to know that livestock farmers take good care of their animals. In turn, most livestock farmers know that humane care of their animals is essential. They know that all aspects of caring for their livestock are important for humane reasons as well as for getting good production from those animals.
Local dairy farmers, as well as those nationally, for example, have a program that demonstrates their interest in high-quality care for their animals. The program is called FARM for Farmers Assuring Responsible Management. It is a program sponsored by dairy farm organizations across the country.
According to Jamie Jonker, the National Milk Producers Federation vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, the latest report on the FARM program gives the results of more than 12,000 dairy farm evaluations. They were done over the previous three years by second party evaluators who visited each of these farms.
The report found that about 95 percent of the farms enrolled in the program train their employees to properly move animals that cannot walk for some reason. More than 96 percent train employees to handle calves with as little stress as possible.
Several other results from the survey were interesting. Ninety-nine percent of the farms took time to observe their herd daily to check for health problems and lameness, which allowed them to provide early treatment for any problems.
On 92 percent of the farms, arrangements were made with veterinarians for regular visits to deal with any problems such as common diseases, calving and special problems that come up.
According to the report, dairy farmers that produced about three-fourths of the nation’s milk supply participated in the FARM program, up 5 percent from the previous year. It indicates that dairy farmers take good care of their animals seriously. They are doing dozens of things daily that improve the care and well-being of their animals.
The FARM program has been available for five years in the United States. It has been a voluntary program with a national set of guidelines that demonstrate dairy farmer’s commitment to the best kind of animal care and quality milk. However, in November, the National Milk Producers Federation voted to make it mandatory, effective in 2016, to get all farmers involved in the program.
Dairy farmers enrolled in the program are given training information and are evaluated by a trained professional or veterinarian. The evaluators provide a report after their first visit and make any necessary recommendations for im-provements.
Each year a randomly selected group of dairy farmers is selected for visits from trained observers with no interest in that particular dairy farm. A certified auditing company verifies the reports from these observers.
Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) is a well-conducted program to assure to the public that dairy farmers are committed to humane practices in caring for their livestock.
Locally, I have talked with one dairy farmer who has been enrolled in the program for about four years. I’m sure there are others with the same commitment.
What is needed is to enroll 100 percent of dairy farmers in the program, but 100 percent is nearly impossible. There are usually a few farmers that do not want any outside people telling them what to do. However, they have a milk inspector that checks the farm and they know they have to listen to him or her if they want to ship milk.
Other livestock organizations have programs encouraging humane care of their animals by their producers. The programs are also voluntary, but producers realize the importance of being involved.
Parker is retired from The Ohio State University and is an independent agricultural writer.