However, farm leaders recognized that they needed to be able to demonstrate their stewardship of animals, environment and society to consumers and customers.
In 2012, DFC started to consult with farmers on the idea of bringing initiatives related to best farm practices together under one national program for dairy. The objective was to demonstrate to clients and consumers that dairy farmers are responsible food producers, dedicated to sustainability.
Having won the support of members, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) delegates endorsed expanding their food safety program to create a broader assurance program that assures clients of good on-farm practices, which was called proAction.
Through proAction, Canadian dairy farmers will be able to provide measurable proof of milk quality and safety and will be able to demonstrate continuous improvement in animal health and welfare as well as environmental stewardship.
The proAction Initiative has six key modules: milk quality, food safety (Canadian quality milk), animal care, livestock traceability, biosecurity and environment. Each of these modules has a different set of requirements and are being (or will be) implemented over time.
Producers are already meeting the requirements for milk quality and food safety (CQM); animal care and livestock traceability are the next modules producers are implementing.
The animal care module is based on the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle, and the program highlights five categories of criteria including housing, feed and water, animal health, handling and shipping of animals, and finally training and communication with workers.
DFC conducted two national pilot projects on farms across Canada during the development phase of the program to test the requirements with farmers to ensure it was practical.
The two-year training phase of animal care and livestock traceability started on farms in September 2015. This phase will provide producers with time to learn about the modules and make improvements on their farms if needed. The validation phase for these two modules is slated to start in September 2017, on each farm’s CQM anniversary date or validation date.
As part of the animal care module, producers will be required to meet the criteria outlined in a self-evaluation questionnaire and keep up-to-date standard operating procedures for shipping cattle, euthanasia, animal health practices and branding, and colostrum management and calf feeding.
Producers will also be required to develop a corrective action plan for downed cows and have an assessment of animal-based measures evaluated on a sample of their cattle (i.e., the cattle assessment) every two years.
The cattle assessment is conducted by a third-party assessor, and it must be completed in the 12 months prior to the farm’s validation date.
DFC will approve third parties qualified to conduct these assessments. The assessor will evaluate a sample of cattle in the milking herd (lactating and dry cattle) for body condition score, lameness and hock, knee and neck injuries.
The assessment is designed to provide farmers with a benchmark of how their cattle score so they can monitor improvement over time and also provide them a comparative analysis to their peers. It should highlight what they are doing well and where they need to focus on improvement.
As it relates to injuries, refer to the flow charts in Figure 2 for what is acceptable and unacceptable.
This information is available in the Animal Care Workbook and Manual, which is available online or by contacting your provincial producer association or via QR bar code found in Figure 1.
DFC has chosen Holstein Canada, starting at the end of 2016 (approximately 12 months before the first validations begin), to be the third-party provider for animal assessments for the first round of assessments across all farms for a period of two years.
Holstein Canada is a national organization that can provide consistent and unified assessments throughout Canada. Its highly trained bilingual staff will be collecting this information electronically and will be working with DFC to set industry-wide benchmarks and identify the future targets for animal-based measures.
DFC will train and qualify Holstein Canada staff (classifiers and other on-farm consultants) to be eligible to conduct these assessments.
The number of animals required for the animal assessment is dependent on the herd size, as identified by DFC and illustrated in Table 2.
These animals must be selected at random and must be assessed on the same day.
Herds that participate in Holstein Canada’s conformation assessment (classification) program will not incur any additional costs for the animal assessment and will be absorbed from the fees associated with classifying. For non-classifying herds, there will be a $100 herd visit fee and a $6-per- animal fee. PD
For more information on animal care, visit proAction: Animal Care or contact your provincial producer association. For specific questions about the on-farm animal care assessments, contact Holstein Canada’s extension and education team, Email Jeanette Van der Linden or Email Laura Donkers.
