{"id":55618,"date":"2020-06-08T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T14:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=55618"},"modified":"2020-06-02T08:52:33","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T13:52:33","slug":"%ef%bb%bffeed-prescriptions-to-ensure-appropriate-antibiotic-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=55618","title":{"rendered":"\ufeffFeed prescriptions to ensure appropriate antibiotic use"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Sathena Scarborough <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Paul, Neb., senior <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the world of human\nmedicine, one has to see or call a physician to receive a prescription. This\npractice, which has become more common in the livestock industry, is called a\nveterinarian feed directive, also known as a VFD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A VFD is essentially a\nprescription from a veterinarian for the use of feed or water-soluble\nantibiotics for livestock. They have been around for a while, but are now more\nstrictly enforced. Over the years, antibiotic use has become stricter and more\nregulated, which hopefully will reduce antibiotic misuse in animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States Food\nand Drug Administration regulates these rules for VFDs. Feed antibiotics are\noften used because they are more affordable and easier to administer than\ninjectable antibiotics. Producers have not lost accessibility to these\nantibiotics, but the way they have to be obtained and used has changed. The\nlivestock production industry is changing and adapting to what consumers now\nwant in a food product, which is as little antibiotic use as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veterinarian feed\ndirectives, said Progressive Cattle, have been around longer than most people\nrealize, but they were not used as much as they should have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Jan. 1, 2017, the\nFDA made a pivotal movement for the livestock industry concerning acquiring and\nhandling antibiotics. Amendments to the preceding VFD required veterinarian\nreview. Many of the antibiotics that were available over-the-counter, or as\n\u201cproduction use,\u201d have been removed from products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new VFD rule\naffects certain antibiotics that are considered \u201cmedically important\u201d to humans\nand that are administered through feed. VFDs are often thought about as being\nin feed, but water-soluble antibiotics are also important. Antibiotics that are\nconsidered \u201cmedically important,\u201d such as chlortetracycline and\noxytetracycline, now require a script from a veterinarian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FDA rule change\nstill allows certain products over-the-counter. Ionophores such as Rumensin and\nBovatec, which are used to increase feed efficiency and daily weight gain, are\nnot considered medically important and do not require a VFD unless used with a VFD\ndrug. Other over-the-counter antibiotics, such as an injectable or a bolus, are\nnot affected.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since a veterinarian is\nnow required, it is important to maintain a good veterinarian-client-patient\nrelationship also known as VCPR. This is similar to having a family doctor for\nyour livestock. It is key that the veterinarian has sufficient knowledge of the\npatient\u2019s livestock to provide the right feed or water antibiotic. A VCPR\ndocument signed by both producer and veterinarian should exist. Then the VFD is\nneeded before the feed antibiotics can be ordered, and the feed distributor\nneeds proof that the requirements have been met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new VFD would be\nneeded for each drug to be used. Permits usually expire after six months, and a\nproducer needs to keep it in the records for at least two years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since it has been a few years since the FDA implemented these rules, cattle producers have had time to adjust, but some ranchers are still struggling with the fact that they can\u2019t get what has worked for them for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veterinarian feed\ndirective is a way the agriculture industry is proactively looking into\nconcerns about antibiotics resistance. Antibiotic resistance is not the issue,\nbut producers need to conserve the use of antibiotics for the future. With a\nVFD, it may be worthwhile for producers to look at natural alternatives, such\nas prebiotics, to advance gut health and avoid health issues before they even\ntake place. Prebiotics promote good bacteria and builds natural defenses, so a\ncalf will hopefully never have a bad day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important for a producer to know the regulations that are associated with a VFD. The world of veterinary medicine is ever-changing, mainly to meet the demands of the consumer and the producer. A veterinarian feed directive might be the first of many changes that will happen to the livestock industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sathena Scarborough, a\n2017 St. Paul High School graduate, is majoring in animal science and\nagricultural business at Fort Hays State University. She is the daughter of\nLauren Scarborough and Jennifer McDonald, St. Paul, Neb.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sathena Scarborough St. Paul, Neb., senior In the world of human medicine, one has to see or call a physician to receive a prescription.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12323,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AGRI-610-2020-Scarborough-Sathena.jpg?fit=800%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55618"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55620,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55618\/revisions\/55620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}