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Over 75% of dairy farmers have been audited for the Bord Bia Sustainable Quality Assurance Scheme to date and all other farmers will be signed up over coming months
Last week Bord Bia held two seminars, near Fermoy, Co Cork, and in Kilkenny, to discuss upcoming changes and record-keeping requirements for dairy farmers in the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS).More and more Irish-produced food product is going to international markets outside of the UK and the EU. This is one of the main reasons why Bord Bia audits and record-keeping are necessary, according to Bord Bia sector manager Michael Houlihan. He said: “In 2009, about 21% of Irish product was sold in international markets and for 2015 that figure was 28%. In the same instance, product to the UK was 46% in 2009 but that has dropped to 41% in 2015. International consumers want more detail on how their food is produced and many consumers in these faraway countries have never heard of Ireland, not to mind understand how we produce food.”
Last week Bord Bia held two seminars, near Fermoy, Co Cork, and in Kilkenny, to discuss upcoming changes and record-keeping requirements for dairy farmers in the Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS).
More and more Irish-produced food product is going to international markets outside of the UK and the EU. This is one of the main reasons why Bord Bia audits and record-keeping are necessary, according to Bord Bia sector manager Michael Houlihan. He said: “In 2009, about 21% of Irish product was sold in international markets and for 2015 that figure was 28%. In the same instance, product to the UK was 46% in 2009 but that has dropped to 41% in 2015. International consumers want more detail on how their food is produced and many consumers in these faraway countries have never heard of Ireland, not to mind understand how we produce food.”
Michael explained that essentially there are seven parts to the record-keeping element of the Bord Bia audits. He said: “Five of these records need to be kept for Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments anyway and the two new elements are that the farm must have an animal health plan and keep a track of own farm feed records, which for most Irish dairy farmers is grass. Dairy farmers, if they have their own well, must also furnish the inspector with a water test report and milk machine service report.”
The seven records required
1. Bovine herd register – can be kept in the Blue Book, agfood.ie or farm management software. For an inspection, you need to have movement permits, knackery receipts and passports available.
2. Animal remedy purchase records – required by law to have record of all types of remedies, such as antibiotics, vaccines, doses, drenches and tubes. The record must show the date of purchase, medicine name, quantity purchased and who supplied it.
3. Animal remedy usage records – as opposed to purchase records, usage records must show the date of administration, name of medicine, quantity administered per animal, identity of animal or clear description of group, date of end of withdrawal period, person who administered, and prescribing vet if applicable.
4. Animal health plan – sets out plan for the year in relation to dosing, vaccinating, etc. There is a template available in the Bord Bia farm book or else simply write out a plan with your vet or farm adviser.
5. Feed purchase records – all feed brought on to the farm must be recorded. This can be recorded by retaining all receipts, delivery dockets, etc. Some farmers in the audience asked if an annual delivery statement from the feed seller (eg co-op) would suffice and Michael confirmed that was OK. A record of the type of feed used is required but one description (list of ingredients) as confirmed by the feed merchant is adequate and a separate detail for each batch of summer feed is not required. For example, if you buy numerous batches of a winter nut and a summer nut, one description of each is adequate.
6. Own farm feed records – This rarely causes a problem according to Michael and effectively is just a record if any other feeds like maize or fodder beet are produced on farm.
7. Farm safety statement – required by all farmers.
The additional reports required by dairy farmers are a water test report and a milking machine test report. The water test report is required when water is coming from a private well. The test needs to show a zero result for the presence of Enterococci and E coli. Currently a test every three years is enough and if part of a group water scheme, no water test report is required.
A milking machine test report must be available as part of the Dairy Hygiene Inspection created by an IMQCS registered technician.
Questions
and answers
Answers to questions from the audience were delivered by Michael Houlihan, Bord Bia sector manager for dairy
Q: What level is a pass in audit?
A: 60%
Q: If only 75% of dairy farmers are audited, what are the other 25% doing?
A: We are working on auditing these farms every week and will continue to do so until all are audited.
Q: If on a group water scheme, do I need to get water test report?
A: No
Q: Any chance you could put pressure on the animal health companies to put a barcode on all medicines to make record keeping much more streamlined?
A: Yes, I’ll take back that message and see what we can do.
Q: Our vet often gives us a vet script. Will that suffice as a record of medicine purchase?
A: Yes, as long as the key details are present on the script.
Q: What’s coming up new in the audit?
A: Sustainability criteria will be included in the standard, but we are already collecting data for this so no new information is required. There will also be a new section on pesticides.
Q: What are the most common mistakes?
A: 1. Including the expiry date of the medicine used instead of the date that withdrawal ends on.
2. Including a group description such as “four heifers” – it is not clear to the auditor which four heifers.
3. Including a product name such as Cydectin – not clear enough as there are about eight different Cydectin products.
4. Putting down how much medicine is in the bottle instead of what volume was administered to animal.
5. Putting down three days as the withdrawal date – not sufficient; need the actual dates.
6. Need full date for when administered and withdrawal date for milk and meat must be included.
Q: Level of consistency between inspectors:
A: We have 110 auditors completing 600 audits on average per week so there will be some inconsistency but we have full visibility of records for individual auditors and we do manage and analyse the results. There is an appeals process that farmers can engage with if necessary.
Q: How long does a farmer need to retain feed records for?
A: 18 months will be OK.
Q: Why is it that I get my farm Quality Assured yet when I go to the factory not all my cattle get the Quality Assured bonus?
A: For reasons other than the QA scheme your factory has deducted money from you – perhaps carcase was too heavy or light, etc
Q: How long should an audit take?
A: Beef and sheep about 1.5 hours; dairy about three hours. It should vary depending on the number of animals and record keeping process on farm.
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