FARM Animal Care 5.0 Advances at Board Meeting
April 4, 2023
In addition to endorsing a path forward on Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization, NMPF’s Board of Directors also voted to approve a package of updates to Version 5 of the FARM Program’s Animal Care standards.
The board on March 9 endorsed the overall package developed by the FARM program’s committee structure, including its Animal Care Task Force and the NMPF Animal Health and Well-Being Committee. It withdrew for further consideration one program proposal updating provisions to include additional guidance on broken tail scoring. The board will revisit that proposal, which would update the scoring approach for the existing version 4 benchmark about broken tails in lactating cows, at NMPF’s June Board meeting.
The goal of FARM and NMPF, which administers the program, is to implement the overall Version 5 Animal Care standards July 1, 2024. An industry-wide Town Hall about the Animal Care standards will be held April 6. Registration for the Town Hall is here.
The FARM Program also shared progress updates for its Environmental Stewardship and Workforce Development program areas at the March meeting.
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