Agricultural News
Beef Cattle Industry Supportive of Judicious Use of Antibiotics in Cattle
Fri, 13 Dec 2013 06:05:04 CST
Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administation announced that they were moving forward with their efforts to limit the use of antibiotics in animals- particularly the classes of drugs that are also utilized to fight infection in humans. On Wednesday, FDA published its Final Guidance 213 and proposed Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) rule. FDA's Guidance 213 implements a plan to phase out over a three year period the subtherapeutic use of medically important antibiotics in food producing animals. The proposed VFD will ensure that all antibiotics that are administered to food producing animals will be done so under the supervision of a veterinarian.
Earlier this year, we talked with Dr. Kathy Simmons, Chief Veterinary Officer of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, about the VFD and Guidance Document 213. As FDA was seeking public and industry input at that time- Dr. Simmons indicated that NCBA felt that in general, this cooperative approach with industry was the right thing to do.
At the annual meeting of the NCBA, she told us "We at NCBA have long supported the judicious use of antimicrobials in cattle. Since 1987 our Beef Quality Assurance program has had guidelines for the judicious use of antimicrobials. We stress the importance to all our producers of having a strong veterinarian-client patient relationship.
"We found on our most recent national 2012 national beef audit that it was stated that our producers, 90 percent of them, reported having a veterinarian-client patient relationship. And I think that places us in position to move forward with FDA to try to prevent antimicrobial resistance from occurring. None of us want to have that happen. I believe that we are currently working in that area and working effectively."
Dr. Simmons emphasized that the benefits of a good veterinarian-client patient relationship go beyond just the effective and safe use of antibiotics.
"It is certainly important with the antimicrobials. You want to have an informed use of antimicrobials to avoid the resistance problem. You want to use them for the right period of time and in the right number of animals. That's important, but I think it's also important on a production level. I think your veterinarian can help you in consultation on nutrition issues, in some of the production and husbandry issues that are basic. Many times we do know these things and it helps to have another viewpoint."
You can hear additional comments about producers lining themselves up with a good Vet as we feature Dr. Simmons today on our end of the week Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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