Guelph-based dairy herd management service provider Lactanet on Monday launched DairyTrace, which it says will operate alongside the traceability module of Dairy Farmers of Canada’s proAction initiative in providing “state-of-the-art traceback capabilities in the event of an emergency or animal health crisis.”

Recognized in June by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as the national administrator responsible for traceability of dairy bovine animals under federal Health of Animals Regulations, Lactanet has been working with DFC toward a national traceability system since 2016.

Federal regulations and DFC’s proAction requirements call for anyone who owns or has possession, care or control of dairy cattle to record and report animal identity, movement, location and custodianship information.

To that end, the DairyTrace system will include a mobile app and online database portal, which Lactanet said will “streamline and simplify” recording and reporting of animal identification and movement, plus a national website with information for dairy producers and handlers as well as consumers.

The program will also offer customer service support, animal tags and instructional materials, Lactanet said.

Exchange systems will also be available for “non-producer affiliates” outside Quebec such as abattoirs, assembly yards and auction facilities, allowing them to use either the DairyTrace system or the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency’s (CCIA) Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS).

“DairyTrace has been developed to provide dairy farmers with easy-to-use tools for managing their traceability obligations,” Stettler, Alta.-area dairy farmer Gert Schrijver, the chair of Lactanet’s DairyTrace advisory committee, said in Monday’s release.

DairyTrace will be managed by Lactanet’s board of directors with “input and collaboration” from DFC, working within existing structures and systems in the dairy sector, DFC said in June when it announced the system would be ready in the fall.

All dairy farmers will have “access to a one-stop-shop” for ordering tags and receiving customer support from DairyTrace customer services, as well as the National Livestock Identification for Dairy (NLID) program offered through Holstein Canada, Schrijver said.

Dairy producers outside Quebec will still buy dairy bovine tags through NLID, which will now be “dovetailed” alongside DairyTrace customer services and both offered via Holstein Canada, DFC said.

The system will also offer customer support via Agri-Tracabilite Quebec (ATQ), through which Quebec producers “have successfully practiced this traceability model for many years using the SimpliTrace system,” DFC said.

ATQ will host, support and transfer data to the DairyTrace system, DFC said, but will also continue to provide its “well-established” services to Quebec producers by way of SimpliTrace.

The DairyTrace system “will also promote information-sharing and potentially add value to research and genetics initiatives,” Lactanet said Monday.

Schrijver in June had hailed the system’s pending launch as “a pivotal milestone for dairy producers, as it will provide the data management infrastructure needed to provide — for the first time — a true, pan-Canadian picture of the movements of dairy cattle.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The rotation is offered through the Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph, where research has been conducted on animal welfare for 25 years.

Montreal-based dairy processor Saputo is funding some of the costs of the rotation, as part of its stated commitment to animal welfare research and training.

“Saputo knew of Campbell Centre and they came to the centre and said they would like to invest in animal welfare,” said Dr. Derek Haley, the co-coordinator of the dairy welfare rotation and an OVC professor. “They were particularly interested in dairy veterinarians. We suggested the rotation and they agreed.”

Dairy farmers will soon be audited based on animal welfare as part of the proAction quality assurance program. That auditing will be first done by Holstein Canada, but Haley said veterinarians will have a role to play in preparing farmers for the audits and to help them interpret results.

“Vets will be more in a role of coaching their clients,” he said.

Veterinary students spend their fourth year rotating among different specialty subjects, such as surgery, pathology or radiology, and placements in veterinary clinics. This exposes them to different areas of expertise and gives them specific training.

Jodi Bierworth, a fourth-year OVC student, was in the first dairy cattle welfare rotation and said she found it valuable as it showed the students how to apply the proAction assessment. The practical lessons were useful.

“Being accurate at lameness scoring takes a lot of practice,” she said. “Some of the measures are a bit easier to score, but I found that lameness was the most difficult for me. I also learned how being confident in assessing dairy cattle welfare, and knowing what practical changes can be made to see improvements, can really add value for your clients.”

Haley, who teaches the core animal welfare content to the students in earlier years, co-coordinates the program with Dr. Todd Duffield. Both are faculty in OVC’s department of population medicine.

The Saputo funding has helped to hire a dairy care manager, Dr. Lena Levison, to run the animal welfare rotation.

Animal well-being has moved beyond health and diagnosing and treating disease, Haley said.

“For a long time, veterinarians felt that looking after the health of an animal was sufficient to ensure an animal’s welfare,” he said. “Understanding what animals experience is much more nuanced now. Health is necessary, but not sufficient in itself to ensure an animal has a good life.”

The new one-week dairy cattle welfare rotation is the first of its kind at a Canadian veterinary school and is attracting interest from other colleges.

For example, students from the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine and the veterinary medicine faculty at the Universite de Montreal were part of the first dairy welfare rotation.

The Saputo funding, which also focuses on training for farmers and practicing veterinarians, followed the release of the Chilliwack Cattle Sales covert video in 2014, which created significant consumer concern about dairy farm production practices.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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His was “a Cadillac barn” and the best of the best for its time, but by the mid-2000s times had changed.

It wasn’t just a robotic milking system for their 220 cows that brought Skyline Dairy into a modern era, says David Wiens, who farms with his brother Charles.

This was a barn built with comfort foremost in mind.

“When we were planning and designing the barn we put a lot of care and attention into focusing on animal comfort,” he told a recent conference on animal welfare. Rubberized flooring replaced concrete. Brushes were installed so the cows could groom. An automated calf feeder replaced the pails they’d previously used.

Those and other upgrades were not viewed “as luxuries,” said Wiens. “They are important features in any barn whose owner is serious about top-quality animal care.”

But milk producers don’t have to build a new barn to prove it matters to them too. Dairy farmers right across Canada now participate in a program that ensures they’re held to the highest standards for animal care, Wiens told the inaugural One Welfare conference September 27.

The program is Dairy Farmers of Canada’s proAction initiative, a national assurance program with six components including one devoted specifically to animal care. DFC has been working with the National Farm Animal Care Council since 2013 to pilot the animal care component.

The animal care assessments are based on the requirements of the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle published in 2009, and involve Holstein Canada doing third-party assessor visits to farms to score herd health and welfare.

Holstein Canada will conduct the animal health assessments, evaluating and scoring animals based on body condition, hock, knee and neck injuries and lameness. It will assess more than 300,000 cows on farms across the country in benchmarking exercises now underway.

The animal care requirements will be formally added to the existing Food Safety (CQM) validation in September 2017.

Wiens said that initially, there was apprehension expressed about this component of proAction. It sprang from animal welfare simply being a sensitive subject, and farmers initially wondered what direction this might be heading.

“They were wondering, ‘Is this going to somehow show that I’ve not been living up to expectations?’” Wiens said. “But when we started getting into the details about what was being measured and how it was being measured, farmers were much more relaxed. It was, ‘OK, I’m doing this already, this makes sense.’”

‘Cow signals’

One of the especially interesting aspects of the program has been the ‘cow signals’ workshops offered, Wiens said. That’s involved bringing in animal welfare experts to help farmers identify best practices for cow comfort.

Farmers now see merit in a program not only for stricter enforcement for on-farm animal welfare practices but enabling their sector to tell a credible animal care story.

“We care about our animals and we look after our animals,” Wiens said.

“We’re not just saying this. We have a code of practice, but by this assessment through proAction we’re actually showing how we are complying with the codes of practice. There are scores to prove it.”

Wiens described the initiative at a conference attended by medical professionals, public health inspectors and agricultural industry representatives. The three-day conference included international speakers citing a growing body of research showing links between human well-being and animal welfare.

The Canadian dairy industry’s commitment to animal welfare is about showing Canadians that farmers care as much about animal welfare as the general public, Wiens said.

“We know that it’s important to Canadians that animals are looked after and there has to be a high degree of stewardship involved in the care of animals. We share those values.”

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How do they position themselves to compete on the basis of quality without fearmongering over production practices south of the border?

American producers use recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) to boost milk production, which has never been approved for use in Canada.

During a recent Dairy Farmers of Manitoba (DFM) meeting held in Headingley, producers considered how to promote their product on the basis of quality without pointing to that difference in how their milk is produced.

Fast-food giants such as A&W have taken to promoting their products as being hormone free, a sales strategy that is working, but which has alienated producers using conventional production practices.

DFM said it won’t be pointing to the use of rBST south of the border to build its brand.

“You’re way better off to talk about the positive values,” said vice-chair Henry Holtmann. “Versus saying what is coming in is bad for you… It’s way better to talk about Canadian values, and say our quality is higher than anyone else. We want to promote the good things our farmers do, and that is reflected in our milk and our dairy products.”

The strategy is influenced by the seemingly long-standing country-of-origin labelling (COOL) dispute between Canada and the U.S. While the World Trade Organization has ruled in Canada’s favour four times, the U.S. continues to hold firm as Canada prepares to take retaliatory measures.

“We just came though COOL labelling on the hog side, so to say we want a COOL-type of labelling on this side — well it’s a very touchy subject,” Holtmann said. “We just tried to remove that impediment for our hog producers and we don’t want to pit one industry against another.”

Some producers at the meeting felt that fewer Canadians would include cheese on their cross-border shopping lists if they knew the differences between how milk was produced in the U.S. and in Canada.

“People do this all the time, they go and bring back cheese,” said John Bannister, who farms near Lockport. “But if you mention it to the people who are doing it, they always say it’s cheaper in the States. Now they would stop if they knew it was raised with it. But very often they don’t know, they just see it in the shops and know that it’s cheaper, so they buy it.”

He added that the same goes for products sold in Canadian stores that contain imported dairy ingredients.

Holtmann said that he wants consumers to know about the differences in production, but that he also wants to keep things positive by focusing on Canada’s strengths and values.

That means letting consumers know how to spot 100 per cent Canadian dairy products using Dairy Farmers of Canada’s trademark Blue Cow logo, Holtmann said.

It also means backing the Blue Cow up with ProAction — a nationwide accreditation program for dairy producers — that consolidates a wide variety of best management practices together under one umbrella, something which industry representatives believe will streamline auditing and inspection pro­cesses for farmers.

It will also allow consumers to verify claims made by the industry and learn more about where their milk comes from.

“We know there is that difference between the two countries… and we know that there are these ingredients coming in from other countries and being incorporated into some of the products here,” said Holtmann. “But those ingredients certainly aren’t in the Blue Cow products. So you know we would rather tackle it from the positive side with the Blue Cow label… instead of saying this is bad and using fear.”

Bannister would like a little more direct approach.

“I think it’s got to be advertised more, and it’s got to be bigger, people need to see it,” he said.

But while it’s not the direct route, Holtmann believes the positive sell will be the most effective strategy in the long haul.

“We know there is value in that, it’s just a matter to get more of the Blue Cow on there and getting consumers informed. But we want to inform them without putting fear in their hearts,” he said.

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ProAction — a nationwide accreditation program for dairy producers — aims to consolidate a wide variety of best management practices together under one umbrella, something industry representatives believe will streamline auditing and inspection processes for farmers.

“We’re trying to incorporate all these different functions into one visit so that the auditors, these various inspectors, don’t have to come out multiple times in a year. It’s just easier for producers to have one thorough visit,” David Wiens told producers gathered in Steinbach for a district meeting of Dairy Farmers of Manitoba last week.

Manitoba is taking the extra step of incorporating already existing premise inspections with the audits required for ProAction, he said.

Responsibility for implementing the new program in the province will fall to Dairy Farmers of Manitoba, including on-farm premise inspections — something the province once handled.

Initial funding

Growing Forward 2 is providing the industry association with $525,000 over four years so that it can hire and train field service representatives, a necessary step towards being recognized under the ProAction initiative.

Wiens was quick to add that Dairy Farmers of Manitoba will also be subject to audits.

“The government has been doing it, but we are going to take on that role, and of course as an organization we’re going to be audited too to ensure that our auditors are doing a proper job,” he said.

What will happen after the four years of allotted funding comes to an end is unclear, but the chairman said Dairy Farmers of Manitoba is looking at ways to make the process more efficient.

“It’s always a concern when costs are being added to the organization,” said Wiens. “But in terms of including the on-farm premise inspection with the ProAction initiative, that helps us to streamline as much as possible.”

That streamlining won’t affect the integrity of the audit, he added.

Reaction from producers at the meeting was largely muted — ProAction has been under development for some time. A resolution supporting it was passed by Dairy Farmers of Canada last August, although it was officially announced to the public last week.

“I think it’s a good idea, but I’d like to have some more details on how it will work,” said Ray Pelletier, who farms near La Broquerie.

Consumer focus

However, ProAction isn’t just aimed at producers. The new initiative is also aimed at consumers.

“It’s going to address, basically, the societal demands on dairy,” Wiens told producers. “We’re seeing more and more interest by our end consumers and certainly the retailers in what we’re doing on the farm… it’s basically our commitment to food safety, milk quality, the sustainability of our animals, our farms, the way in which they’re being managed and so on, and of course the biosecurity, traceability, and the environment as well.

“This is all about us showing our consumers that we hear them, we know their values, those are our values, and that we are going to be doing this on the farm, and here is evidence that these things are happening on the farm and it’s actually being audited,” he said.

Being able to prove to the consumer that best management practices are being followed will tie into the 100 per cent Canadian Dairy campaign as well, said the chairman.

Dairy Farmers of Canada is also one year into a review of its communication strategies and is working on a five-year promotion strategy that will include partnering with retailers and processors.

Having a comprehensive, national accreditation system will help dairy farmers market their milk and strengthen their marketing claims and strategies, said Wiens.

Other producers agreed.

“I think we should have done something like this a long time ago; it will be a very good program,” said Peter de Jong, who also farms near La Broquerie. “I think it will be positive for our consumers to know where and how the milk is made and where it comes from.”

Social media

He added that the popularity of social media, which continues to speed up the transmission of information through sites like Twitter and Facebook, makes being able to back up claims or dispute false information with facts more important than ever before.

“We want to be proactive, we want to do what we say we do, and show that we are doing it,” de Jong said.

Wiens noted that farmers are still highly regarded by the Canadian public and said maintaining and building that trust is a key goal of the ProAction initiative.

“It just comes down to how important it is for us to show consumers that our farms are sustainable and that we’re producing a high-quality, nutritious product,” he said. “And I think those are all things that are as important to us as they are to consumers.”

The first inspections under the ProAction umbrella will take place in Manitoba this October.

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The new initiative, called proAction, will encompass the Canadian Quality Milk program, as well as issues related to animal care, biosecurity, traceability, and environmental sustainability.

It will also allow for concrete measurement of best management practices, and ensure consumers’ concerns and questions can be answered effectively, said David Wiens, chairman of Dairy Farmers of Manitoba.

“We’re responding to what we know is important to all of us, and what is certainly important to consumers as well,” said Wiens.

“When consumers wonder about where their food comes from, how it was raised… we see answering that concretely as adding value to our product in the eyes of the consumer.”

It is also a demonstration that his sector isn’t taking consumers for granted.

“We have supply management here in Canada and it works well, but we’re certainly not going to take advantage of it in terms of thinking that the consumer doesn’t have a choice — because ultimately they do,” Wiens said.

“I mean if they’re not comfortable with our dairy products and there aren’t other products available they may simply not use dairy. So it’s important to strive for the best product possible, and let people know what we’re doing.”

Each area of the program will be subject to an independent on-farm audit to verify adherence and also facilitate improvement, the chairman said.

“What we’re developing is an assessment tool,” he said. “There are going to be certain things which can be measured to see if these best management practices are happening on the farm… so you can check off those things that are being done, or identify an area of concern.”

The proAction program shouldn’t be onerous for producers, as many of these best management practices are already in place, he said.

“We’re trying to develop programs that are user friendly, we’re not trying to create a mountain of paperwork for farmers,” said Wiens.

ProAction is also expected to streamline oversight processes and reduce the number of visits inspectors make to farms.

New elements of the program are being phased in incrementally, but all farmers will need to be compliant by 2020.

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