Nebraska BQA: Antibiotic stewardship

By Rob Eirich
Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension

Posted Aug. 14, 2015

The beef community has been hearing the discussion about "Antibiotic Stewardship" throughout the past couple years. This isn't really a new concept, but instead an element of the basic guidelines set forth by Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) since its beginnings in the 1980s. 

The first step is the Veterinarian Client Patient Relationship (VCPR). Producers need to maintain a strong relationship with their veterinarian. Within the context of this relationship, veterinarians and producers can develop a preventative herd health program specific to individual operations, which identifies a vaccination protocol to assist in preventing or minimizing the potential risk of animal health diseases.

Cattlemen are committed to the care and well-being of their livestock, but there are times when diagnosis and treatment of sick animals are required. The VCPR should also establish treatment protocols for common diseases that will identify the proper antibiotic treatment for the diagnosis.

Once protocols are developed, proper use and dosage is high priority. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that all animal health products be labeled for treatment of specific diagnosis, dosage, administration method, withdrawal time, and storage. Reading and following the label is essential to proper treatment of animals. Producers must follow label or veterinarian's prescriptions on all animal-health products. 

Today's producers strive to give the best care possible to the animals entrusted into their care. They want to use antibiotics judiciously to minimize the risk of antibiotic resistance in animal and human health. As concerns have been voiced about antibiotic resistances within human medicine, the FDA has established guidelines for the industry related to antibiotics.

These guidelines ask for more veterinarian oversight for fed antibiotics in the livestock industry with the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD).  VFDs are written veterinarian orders on usage, dosage, and administration of feed containing antibiotics.

Producers will be required to have a VFD before purchasing and feeding antibiotics. Ionophores and non-antibiotic feed medications will not require these documents. The VFD ensures that producers are using these products for the prevention, control or treatment of diagnosis with no sub-therapeutic treatments.

It is important for beef producers to have accurate records. Written protocols for preventive health and treatments should be kept for the integrity of a strong herd-health program. Treatment records with administration date, diagnosis, product, dosage, and withdrawal time and date should be recorded and maintained for three years.

A sometimes-overlooked element of antibiotic stewardship is the proper storage of products. All labels contain the proper storage location and temperature to guarantee the efficacy of the product.

Products have a temperature range at which they should be stored; when temperatures fall below or rise above that range the effectiveness of that product is at risk. It is important to use a thermometer to check that storage areas are kept at proper temperatures.

BQA and Antibiotic Stewardship must go hand in hand for the beef community to assure consumers that producers are committed to caring for healthy animals and producing safe, wholesome, quality beef products.  By following BQA guidelines, producers are working every day on antibiotic stewardship for both animal and human health.