Quality Assurance Skit
Need 5-15 active volunteers and several others who will serve as the fence. Give a card to each active volunteer with one of the following instructions:
You are a healthy, tame market goat. Wander around but stay with the herd. (Need one to five or more of these.) You are a tame but lame market goat. Limp when you wander around. Stay with the herd. It isn’t very stressful for you to be handled. (Need one to four of these.) You are a lame and wild market goat. Limp when you wander around. No need to stay with the herd if people are nearby. Act very stressed when handled. Allow yourself to be caught for one treatment but not again. (Need one to three of these.) You are a child of the herd owner. You treat the animals for foot-rot on the second day, not knowing they have been treated earlier in the day. (Need one of these.) Facilitator serves as the herd owner. Put all “goats” inside a “fence” circle made up of the remaining participants.
Narration: Owner to child, looking at goats: “Darn, I see (3) of our market goats are lame. They probably have foot-rot again. Come to think of it, we haven’t trimmed feet in months; maybe that and the wet weather have something to do with it. Maybe we should start giving foot-rot vaccinations again. Or maybe it was that new buck we brought in. He did seem to be limping when I brought him home and turned him out with the does. Well, we’d better treat these goats with antibiotics.” Action: Catch lame goats; handle roughly and loudly. Owner to child: “Let’s see, I guess they average about 150 pounds so I’ll treat them all for that. The bottle says 1 cc of Miraclecillin per 100 pounds for cattle, but I want these goats to get better fast, so I’m going to triple that dose. Plus that one looks like it’s lame in two feet so I’m going to give that one even more. To make sure the medicine gets to the bad foot faster, I’m going to put it in the muscle of the lame leg.” Action: Treat and release all lame goats. Handle roughly and loudly.
The next day… Owner is alone. “Well it’s time to treat the goats again. I can’t catch those wild ones and I can’t find my (daughter/son). I guess I can’t treat them again. I’ll just treat these other two. They seem better, so I won’t give them as much this time.” Action: Treat and release tame lame goats. Handle roughly and loudly.
Later, the child appears alone. “I think I’ll help (Mom/Dad) out by treating the goats.” Action: Treat and release tame, lame goats.
Another day passes… Owner to child: “Time to treat the goats again. Wait a minute, I can’t tell which ones were lame! I guess we don’t have to treat them any more.”
Three days pass… Owner and child looking at goats. “I’d like to have Mr. and Mrs. Neighbor over for a barbecue, so let’s pick a goat to butcher. I know that Mrs. Neighbor is allergic to Miraclecillin, but I think it should be gone from the meat by now in case we butcher one of the goats we treated.”
Discussion: What went wrong? (Ask group; write answers on flip chart.)
Lack of animal ID Lack of treatment records Lack of isolation of affected animals Illegal extra-label use of medication (species, dose) Lack of completing treatment protocol, leading to bacterial resistance Guessing at weights Random dosing decisions Lack of proper animal care and herd health practices Improper storage of medication Poor sanitation practices Poor communication with family members resulting in double treatments Use of antibiotics when maybe goats would have responded to more simple measures Lack of proper withholding time, putting consumer at risk Lack of use of drug residue tests Stressful animal handling which can cause bruising and other carcass faults Ten Good Production Practices (courtesy National Pork Producers’ Council)
1. Identify and track all animals. 2. Maintain medication and treatment records. 3. Properly store, label and account for all medication products and medicated feed. 4. Obtain and use prescription medications based on a valid veterinary/client/patient relationship. 5. Educate all family members and employees about quality assurance. 6. Use drug residue testing when appropriate. 7. Establish an effective and efficient herd health management plan. 8. Provide proper animal care. 9. Follow appropriate feed processing and handling procedures. 10.Complete a quality assurance checklist annually. Proper Injection Techniques
Use SQ whenever possible. If IM, use neck muscle. Divide large injections into multiple sites. Clean and prep injection site if possible. Use sterile syringe for each treatment and sterile needle for each animal. Use smallest size needle possible for the injection. Restrain animal well to prevent needle breakage or excessive tissue damage.
Producing High Quality Market Animals
Get all prior identification and treatment records from breeder. Select your project animal carefully for good health, proper weight for age and genetic potential. Practice low-stress methods of animal handling: slow, quiet, no hitting or crowding. Minimize use of medications. Abide by all medication use guidelines, including dosages and withholding time. Calculate rate of gain needed to meet target weights by target dates; feed for that rate of gain. Do not hold or push animals. Do not hold animals off water or feed. Do not use unapproved medications without discussing it with your veterinarian. Feed your animal a complete and balanced diet. Practice routine health care practices such as hoof trimming, vaccinating, and deworming. Provide a clean, safe and healthy environment for your animal. Exercise your animal a reasonable amount. When possible, obtain carcass data from your animals; study and learn from the results. When possible, interview consumers what they thought about the food products you raised. Make sure that market animals are not cryptorchids or have any other disqualifications. Avoid offspring of animals known to produce kids with poor carcass characteristics. Practice routine biosecurity measures such as minimizing visitors, isolating sick. animals, disinfecting equipment, and quarantining new animals or returning show animals.