Dairy: CQM certification starts to make its presence felt on Ontario dairy farms
Monday, December 1, 2008
The first dairy farm in the province has completed Canadian Quality Milk certification and 4,000 others are expected to follow in the next four years
by DON STONEMAN
In early August, Ian and Janet Harrop completed the first Canadian Quality Milk (CQM) certification in Ontario. The program is expected to be rolled out to about 4,000 dairy farms across the province in the next four years and other producers can learn from the couple's experience.
The Harrops milk 100 cows in a freestall flush barn at Harrcroft Acres Ltd. north of Fergus in Wellington County. Harrcroft Acres is a partnership of brothers Ian and Roger Harrop and their families. Ian is a director of Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO).
DFO chair Bruce Saunders says that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency approves the program, but disagrees with DFO over how it should be administered. The federal food inspection agency maintains that same person who advises the farmer on compliance to achieve CQM status cannot also be the validator. DFO wants the same people to be able to do both jobs to reduce costs. Otherwise, it will be very expensive. The staff to perform these duties won't be hired until the issue is sorted out.
Saunders argues that the CQM program is not a true HACCP program, anyway. It would be very difficult to make a dairy barn truly HACCP, because it would mean eliminating rodents and flies. "Our position is that this is 'HACCP-like' with the emphasis on the 'like.'" It's unlikely that the majority of producers would be able to attain a true HACCP status. "What's the point in having a program that is unattainable for the majority of producers?"
Janet Harrop says that CQM certification mostly involves keeping in one place the records that a dairy farmer already maintains. Record-keeping is second nature to Janet, a former nurse. "Farmers already do all this stuff. It is a matter of how you document it."
The Harrops use the dairy herd management program DairyComp to maintain their records, but the CQM program is flexible so that records can also be maintained in a daily agenda book or the DHI Herd Event Log Book.
An example of an event that must be recorded: The Time Temperature Recorder, a mandatory piece of equipment in Ontario dairy barns, sounds an alarm that the water isn't hot enough. The producer documents that the water heater failed, and that a service representative was called. Any time that a "regulatory alarm" sounds on the TTR, the producer writes down that the alarm sounded and what action took place to correct the situation. Currently, Janet says, producers see the regulatory alarms. "They just don't write down what they do about it."
Janet created the templates that will be used on their farm and these will be available to other producers through Dairy Farmers of Ontario. She thinks it will take a producer three to four hours to fill them out, and about an hour for a validator to confirm the process.
Important points in the CQM process include: events with the TTR; water testing for E. coli; storage and administration of medications; prescriptions from veterinarians for drugs that are used for a purpose other than they were approved; identification of treated animals; storage and use of medicated feeds away from the lactating cows; and even the labelling and storage of barn cat food. Ian points out that pet food may contain animal protein sources which aren't allowed in cattle feed. The same concern applies to horse feed. The idea is to "catch it before it happens," Ian says.
Producers already check their equipment for milk stone buildup; the protein lodging in the milking system can harbour bacteria.
Under CQM standards, they must document that.
Janet Harrop is certified to write the nutrient management plan for the 100-cow operation. The CQM "is nothing" compared to doing a nutrient management plan, she stresses. BF
