12 Nov 2020
Association announces dairy certification programme will be part of its broad education offering to farm vets and their clients.
Paul Imrie
Job TitleDairy certification programme MilkSure has been added to the BCVA’s education and training offering for farm vets and their clients.
MilkSure is a training programme vets deliver to dairy farmers that focuses on residue avoidance in milk. It also covers medicine stewardship, best practice for treatment protocols and ways to reduce risk of antibiotic resistance.
More than 300 farm vets have participated in MilkSure training, with 3,000 farms accredited across the UK and the BCVA ensuring a successful relationship with the MilkSure team since 2016.
Now administration of the programme is transferring entirely to the BCVA, and the association hopes this will make it even more accessible for vets and farm clients.
BCVA president Nikki Hopkins said: “It is now time to elevate the potential of the training and broaden engagement with veterinary practices.
“We have a series of comprehensive plans that we hope will result in more MilkSure accreditation by dairy farms across the UK, and drive improvements in milk quality and more responsible medicine use at a lower overall cost.”
The BCVA will continue working with RCVS specialist in cattle health and production Owen Atkinson, who has been technical director of the programme on behalf of Dairy UK since 2016.
He said: “There are clear benefits of MilkSure to vets, as well as farmers and milk buyers. It has helped reduce the overall bulk tank failure rate in the UK and ensure many more farmers use their medicines more efficiently, and as they are intended to be used.
“The BCVA has been an important partner in MilkSure from the outset. Now is the right time for the BCVA to take over the day-to-day operations of the programme.”
Mr Atkinson added: “This accompanies a slightly different and simplified delivery model, which will give greater control to MilkSure champion vets.
“MilkSure is held in very high regard by the dairy industry and it is anticipated it will continue to be the preferred medicines stewardship programme for UK dairy farms wishing to attain the highest standards.”
For more information about the MilkSure programme, email [email protected] or visit the MilkSure website.
