Agricultural News
Dr. L D Barker Says Veterinary Feed Directive Should Have Positive Impact on Profitability
Mon, 20 Jun 2016 21:23:58 CDT
Livestock producers who use medications in feed to prevent and treat certain disease conditions will soon be required to work with their veterinarian to create a protocol for those supplements. The USDA mandated veterinary feed directive (VFD) goes into effect January 1, 2017 and Newcastle veterinarian Dr. L D Barker says it will ultimately benefit a producer's bottom line.
"I think this mandate kind of brings around a method that we can work together for their economic advantage as well, and our job is to enhance health and reduce costs," he says. "That's our whole goal as veterinarians is to reach out and do that."
The first step, Barker says, is developing a relationship between the rancher and veterinarian.
"We need to know about their operation, whether it's at the clinic or at their site or their facility," he says. "We've got to know that and have the ability to go there and understand their whole program - their ins and outs of it - and what's happening there to really help them."
Barker says livestock nutritionists also play a vital role in herd health and profitability.
"If we sit there and we've got a producer, a veterinarian and nutritionist, we've got a three-legged stool and that thing will balance," he says. "But if you kick a leg out from under it, it's not going to work and we're going to have problems and it's going to cost us dearly."
Listen to Dr. Barker talk more about the veterinary feed directive during the latest Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is 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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