FARM Program’s 2013 Antibiotic Residue Prevention Manual Available in Spanish
January 8, 2013
Last month, NMPF released a revised version of its Spanish residue prevention manual Prevención de residuos de fármacos en la leche y la carne for 2013. As an area of focus for the National Dairy FARM ProgramTM, the manual can be found on the FARM Program’s website. This version was translated to Spanish from the revised 2013 Milk and Dairy Beef Drug Residue Prevention Manual, which was released in the fall.
The Prevención de residuos de fármacos en la leche y la carne is the Spanish version of the FARM Program’s concise review of appropriate antibiotic use in dairy animals. It’s a quick resource to review those antibiotics approved for dairy animals and can also be used as an educational tool for farm managers as they develop their on-farm best management practices necessary to avoid milk and meat residues.
Additions to the 2013 version include a section on avoiding potential residue violations from extra-label drug use in an unapproved class of cattle, cephalosporin extra-label use prohibitions, as well as an updated drug and test kit list. The 2013 manual includes a certificate of participation that can be signed by a producer and his/her veterinarian to demonstrate their commitment to the proper use of antibiotics.
“We know that there is increased attention to the use of medicines in livestock, and in order to maintain the ability to use those products, we have to demonstrate that we are using them properly,” said Jerry Kozak, President and CEO of NMPF. “We also know that a significant portion of the people who care for dairy cows speak Spanish, and we need to make this information available in Spanish as well as English.”
The Spanish manual was sponsored by Charm Sciences, IDEXX, and Pfizer Animal Health.