About 30 employees of Dream Farms in Newburg, Pennsylvania, were trained in dairy cattle movement and beef quality assurance (BQA). The training, held in October, featured two days of classroom presentations and hands-on workshops.
Presenters included Pennsylvania Beef Council's Nichole Hockenberry, Penn State University extension veterinarian Dr. David Wolfgang and Michigan State University's Dr. Ben Bartlett. These presentations and workshops were recorded and will be available as training modules through Merck Animal Health.
Dream Farms manager Lane Sollenberger spoke highly of the training.
"There was a lot of new-to-us information," Sollenberger says. "There was quite a bit we already knew but that we needed to review, especially about how the cattle view their surroundings and how to handle them properly."
The BQA training was also beneficial for the employees.
"We jumped at the opportunity for more training because when we look at the role we play in dairy beef, we better be doing a good job of quality meat," Sollenberger says.
Wolfgang's presentation featured hands-on injection site training along with detailed descriptions of meat cuts and scenarios in which a shot given in the wrong place could ruin an entire quarter of beef.
The classroom portion of BQA training focused on recordkeeping and withdrawal times.
"We're going to do a better job of keeping track of exactly who gave the shot and what the dose was," Sollenberger says. "I think there's a fairly sizable segment of calf and heifer raisers who aren't currently keeping records. As an industry, we need to comply with the BQA guidelines."
Following the training, Sollenberger received certificates for both BQA and dairy stockmanship. His employees signed those certificates, which are now part of their employee records.
"I'll be able to assure our clientele that we're using BQA standards and that all employees have been trained in stockmanship," he says.
Once the video modules are available, Sollenberger will be able to use those to train new employees.
"In animal agriculture, it's no longer an option to do training like this," he says. "It's a must." PD
The video modules recorded at Dream Farms will be available through Merck Animal Health in early 2014. The company plans to distribute them through USB drives and CDs.
