Montana Beef Quality Assurance Certification Course

• Tutorial Main
• Introduction
  • Education Team
  • Intro to BQA
  • BQA History / Nat. Audits
  • 2005 Nat. Audit
  • Top 10 Industry Goals
  • Defining Quality Beef / Cattle Care
• Regional Curriculum
• Record Keeping
  • Effective Record Keeping
  • Information Recorded
• Care & Handling
  • Producer Attitude
  • Animal Behavior
  • Facilities & Transportation
  • Nutrition
• Feed & Additives
  • Feed
  • Additives
  • Handling / Monitoring
• Animal Health
  • Vaccines
  • Injections
  • Needles
  • Implants
  • Parasite Control
  • Antimicrobials
• Processing
  • Vaccinations
  • Dehorning & Castration
  • Identification
  • Weaning
• Carcass Quality
  • Quality Grade
  • Yield Grade
  • Other Quality Issues
• Marketing
  • Source & Age Verificiation
  • Market Timing
  • Cow Marketing
  • Feeder Calf Grades
  • Shrink
• Breeding & Genetics
  • Uniformity & Consistency
  • EPDs
  • Crossbreeding
• Biosecurity Basics
  • Disease Control
  • Learning Tough Lessons
  • Attention to Zoonotics
  • Agroterrorism
• Certification Process
• MT BQA Directives
• BQA Code
• Certification Exam

Funded, in part, by beef and veal producers and importers through their $1-per-head check off through the Cattlemen's Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

Care & Handling

Cattlemen have long recognized the need to properly care for livestock. Sound animal husbandry practices, based on decades of practical experience and scientific research, are known to impact the well–being of cattle, individual animal health and herd productivity.

Cattle are produced in very diverse environments and geographic locations in the United States. There is not one specific set of production practices that can be recommended for all cattle producers. Personal experience, training and professional judgment can serve as a valuable resource for providing proper animal care.

Producers Code of Cattle Care

Beef cattle producers take pride in their responsibility to provide proper care to cattle. The Code of Cattle Care lists general recommendations for the care and handling of cattle:

• Provide necessary food, water and care to protect the health and well–being of animals.
• Provide disease prevention practices to protect herd health, including access to veterinary care.
• Provide facilities that allow safe, humane, and efficient movement and/or restraint of cattle.
• Use appropriate methods to humanely euthanize terminally sick or injured livestock and dispose of them properly.
• Provide employees with training to properly handle and care for cattle.
• Make timely observations of cattle to ensure basic needs are being met.
• Minimize stress when transporting cattle.
• Keep up–to–date on advancements and changes in the industry to make decisions based on sound production practices and consideration for animal well–being.
• Persons who willfully mistreat animals will not be tolerated.

Changing Your Attitude

Old Attitude: I’m going to MAKE that animal do what I want. New Attitude: I’m going to LET that animal do what I want.

There are changes in a producer’s attitude that must take place in order to implement low–stress livestock handling techniques developed by animal handling experts.

Once the attitudes have changed, three steps will assist us in seeing changes in the way our livestock respond, these are:

1. Stop forcing livestock to do what we want. Replace the use of force with training controlled by low stress principles. Add some practice and patience to the mix and livestock will begin to understand we are not going to force them.
2. Reduce practices that bother livestock. This allows them to be comfortable and learn quickly.
3. Use handling techniques that livestock will respond naturally to.

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Copyright © 2006, Montana Beef Quality Assurance