Pork Checkoff Helping Find Veterinarians

With the new Veterinary Feed Directive starting as the calendar turned to 2017, the Pork Checkoff is trying to help producers find veterinarians in their local area.

VP of Science and Technology Dr. Dave Pyburn said they’ve accumulated a couple of years of news and data on their website.

“You can see the history of how these changes came about. You can see how we’ve gotten the industry ready. You can work to find a veterinarian if you need to. You can also find out exact what these guidances and these changes on the labels for these antibiotics mean for you on the farm.”

Pork.org is where you can find all of that info.

Pyburn said VFD requires a relationship with a veterinarian before antibiotics can be used, and so they offer a vet finder service on their website.

“So if folks don’t have that veterinarian and don’t have that relationship with a veterinarian, they can go into this vet finder and type in their zip and they’ll find vets that are close to them and work in animal ag and are willing to come out and establish that veterinary-client relationship with them.”

Pyburn said producers can also contact their state’s veterinary office and get guidance from them.