Dairies
launch statewide animal care initiative
Dairy
FARM program promotes responsible practices of California dairy families
SACRAMENTO
– A coalition of dairy groups today announced the launch of a statewide
program to promote and verify responsible animal care on the state’s 1,750
family dairy farms. Known as the National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers
Assuring Responsible ManagementTM,
the new program is
designed to assist farmers in demonstrating their ethical treatment of dairy
livestock animals and create consistency of dairy animal care practices across
the country.
“Responsible
care and treatment of animals is a core value for our dairy families, and we
know it’s important to dairy consumers,” said William C. Van Dam, chairman
of the statewide Dairy Cares coalition. “This new program is a major step
forward for our state, in that it provides a credible, verifiable way for dairy
farmers to demonstrate to consumers that these core values are carried out in
our daily management practices.”
Developed
by the nation’s leading animal scientists, veterinarians and dairy industry
experts, the National Dairy FARM Program contains a comprehensive set of animal
care best management practices. As the nation’s leader in milk production,
California dairy farmers are among the first in the nation to adopt the effort.
Because California’s dairy products are marketed nationally and
internationally, California dairy farmers recognize the importance of
participating in a nationwide program to ensure national uniformity for
customers and consumers.
“Actions,
not words, are the only way to maintain and build trust with our consumers,”
said Jamie Bledsoe, a dairy farmer from Riverdale and co-chair of the Dairy
Cares Animal Well-Being Committee. “We’ve always cared for our animals, and
now we have a program in place to validate that we care. And in those rare
instances when animal care doesn’t measure up, we have a program to identify
issues and address them.”
Dairy
Cares will promote Dairy FARM throughout California using a five-point strategy,
which includes:
1
– Adoption of the National Dairy FARM animal care best practice standards;
2
– Orientation of dairy farmers to National Dairy FARM standards through
workshops and educational materials from the University of California and
California Dairy Quality Assurance Program;
3
– On-farm evaluation of each dairy farm to assess compliance and provide a
benchmark to measure improvement;
4
– Producer support and assistance to continuously improve animal care
practices; and
5
– Independent third-party verification to demonstrate program integrity and
credibility.
“Dairy
farmers are passionate about the care they provide to their animals. The
National Dairy FARM Program takes that passion and quantifies it to tell the
story of dairy animal care,” said Jamie Jonker, vice president of scientific
and regulatory affairs at National Milk Producers Federation. “FARM is a very
thorough program, with credible animal care standards developed jointly by
veterinarians, animal scientists and dairy farmers.”
With
the new National Dairy FARM standards already in place, Dairy Cares coalition
members are now moving forward with initial outreach and education classes.
Workshops this spring will review critical issues in animal welfare and prepare
dairy farmers for an upcoming on-farm evaluation, which are expected to begin
later this year.
As
the program matures, post-evaluation support and assistance will occur later
this year with third-party verifications slated to begin in 2011. The program
will continue into the future with follow-up evaluations on a routine basis.
“There’s
more discussion today than ever before about how we raise and care for our
animals,” said Ray Prock, Jr., a dairy farmer from Denair and co-chair of the
Dairy Cares Animal Well-Being Committee. “We need to be part of that
discussion, especially as our customers and consumers ask questions about how we
care for our animals. This is our opportunity to assure them that we’re
committed to doing what’s right.”
For
more information on the Dairy Cares Five-Point Plan visit www.DairyCares.com.
For
more information on the National Dairy FARM Program visit www.NationalDairyFARM.com.
Dairy
Cares is
a statewide coalition supporting economic and environmental sustainability and
responsible animal care and treatment within the California dairy industry. Our
members include the Alliance of Western Milk Producers, Bank of the West, Bar 20
Dairy Farms, California Dairies Inc., California Dairy Campaign, California Farm
Bureau Federation, Dairy Farmers of America-Western Area Council, Dairy
Institute of California, Hilmar Cheese Co., HP Hood, Joseph Gallo Farms, Land
O’Lakes, Milk Producers Council, Ruan Transport Corp., Western United
Dairymen, and others. For information about Dairy Cares, visit our web site at www.dairycares.com,
or call 916-441-3318.
The National Milk Producers Federation, based in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the well being of dairy producers and the cooperatives they own. The members of NMPF’s 30 cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of more than 40,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies. www.nmpf.org