VFD impact

By now we are all aware of the Veterinary Feed Directive wherein veterinarians need to be involved with prescribing antibiotics for livestock.

Dr. Sergio Arispe, Extension professor in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences: “ This is something we should all be for. Put that veterinary oversight in the hands of veterinarians and not in the hands of livestock producers for the main purpose to preserve and make sure that bacteria are not antibiotic resistant and the fact that we can continue to use antibiotics long-term is going to be a benefit to our society overall.”

 

But is there an impact of this new rule? Zoetis veterinarian Dr. Daniel Scruggs states that the VFD affects cow/calf operations with weaned calves. If producers are weaning and backgrounding their own calves prior to sale day, they need to be prepared when they need medicated feed additives to treat and control respiratory disease. The use of medically important antibiotics, which includes all of those used to control or treat respiratory disease in feed, now requires a written VFD, and that can only be issued by a licensed veterinarian, based on a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Dr. Scruggs says Producers benefit from having an established relationship with a veterinarian.