IMPLEMENTING A QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM USING A RISK ASSESSMENT-TOOLON DAIRY OPERATIONS

Concerns and perceptions about antibiotic residues in milk prompted th e dairy industry to develop a voluntary program to support rational an tibiotic use on dairy farms. One deficiency of this program is the ina bility of producers to identify easily the weaknesses in antibiotic ma nagement in order to develop control plans. To overcome this deficienc y, an educational approach was designed. The program centered on an on -farm risk assessment tool used by the producer and an industry educat or to determine the current risk for residue violation. The risk asses sment tool was tested by 25 field personnel working with northeastern milk receivers and 250 producers in seven states. The participants in the study identified a lack of adequate treatment records as being the highest risk factor for antibiotic residues, followed by deficiencies in understanding how to use antibiotics and poor relationships betwee n veterinarians and their clients. When field representatives utilized the risk assessment tool, for most producers, risk of antibiotic resi due decreased by approximately 19%. In particular, more farms kept wri tten records or more complete records. Finally, producers with reporte d histories of antibiotic residues were less likely to implement manag ement changes to reduce the risk of antibiotic residue.