FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, June 24, 2016

Contact: Fred M. Hall,

Tarrant County CEA,

Ph: 817.884.1946;

email: [email protected]

Tarrant County Extension To Host Veterinary Feed Directive Seminar On July 7

The new Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) has the potential to affect anyone who feeds a mediated ration and is set to take full effect on January 1, 2017. This seminar will begin the conversation that any feeder needs to have with their veterinary and feed provider. The program will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 7 in the Magnolia Room at the Tarrant County Resource Connection located at 1100 Circle Drive in Fort Worth. A veterinary feed directive is a written statement issued by a licensed veterinarian in the course of the veterinarian’s professional practice that orders the use of a VFD drug in or on an animal feed. This program will include Ben Jones, Associate Director of Compliance for the Office of the Texas State Chemist, he will address what the new rules include and why we have them, plus Dr. Lynn Post with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will provide the federal perspective. Dr. Post is a veterinarian and toxicologist. Dr. Caitlyn Freeny, an ambulatory veterinary in Flower Mound, will address how the changes will effect producer and veterinary relationships. And finally Dr. Doug Hawkins, cattle consultant with Purina Animal Nutrition, will discuss how the new VFD will effect feed suppliers. The VFD final rule requires veterinarians to issue all VFDs within the context of a veterinarian-client-patientrelationship (VCPR), and specifies the key elements that define a VCPR. These key elements include that the veterinarian engage with the client (i.e., the animal producer) to assume responsibility for making clinical judgments about patient (i.e., animal) health, have sufficient knowledge of the patient by virtue of patient examination and/or visits to the facility where the patient is managed, and provide for any necessary follow-up evaluation or care. There are numerous drug compounds with more than 120 different uses that will be affected by this guidance across animal agriculture. Ionophore, coccidiostat and bacitracin products will not require a VFD unless used in combination with medically important antibiotics. While there is no registration fee, producers must pre-register for the event by 5 p.m. July 5. Registration may be done on-line at: http://agrilife.org/urbantarrantag/program-registration For more information contact your local Extension office. In Tarrant County, the Extension Office phone number is 817.884.1946.

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