Dairy: Coming to a dairy farm near you - the Canadian Quality Milk Program

Monday, October 5, 2009

Those already working to introduce this on-farm safety program say that, though there are some costs and time involved, it's manageable and will bring benefits to their farm and the industry

by Susan Mann

Quinte-area dairy farmer Geraldine Leavitt doesn't expect either to save money or increase her farm's revenue by being certified on the Canadian Quality Milk (CQM) program.

Geraldine, who farms with her husband, Paul, her twin brother, Gerald Pulver, and his wife, Dineen, at Goreland Farms, believes the benefits to getting certified will be the "soft" type, such as improving her overall management, making it easier to work with nutritionists, vets and other consultants, plus providing a boost to the industry. The foursome milk 150 cows and work about 500 acres, growing mostly cattle feed plus a small acreage of soybeans.

Initially implementing CQM cost them $4,250 in computer program and set-up fees, and a yearly support and upgrade charge of $590. Added to that were the countless hours Geraldine spent doing the initial set up, as well as time to record regular updates.

Geraldine says they planned for some time to upgrade  their computer program for herd management and recording to DairyComp 305. Record-keeping for CQM can also be done on that computer program and that's what led Geraldine, who belongs to the Prince Edward County dairy producer committee, to volunteer for CQM certification this year.

She is one of 60 farmers from dairy producer committees of Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) who are working to complete CQM certification this year so that DFO can assess and adjust its delivery of the national on-farm food safety program. It's expected that farmers will start being enrolled over four years beginning next year, based on their annual routine inspection date.

The program will run on a four-year cycle with a full validation audit done in the first year to register a farmer. There's a self declaration in the second and fourth years and a partial validation in the third year, says Alex Hamilton, DFO policies and regulations manager. "We also believe the producer should be Grade A to pass the validation," he explains.

Developed by Dairy Farmers of Canada, CQM helps farmers prevent and reduce food safety hazards on their farms and assures consumers that Canadian milk and meat is produced safely, according to DFC's website. 

For farmers, being on the program over time "will sharpen your management," Geraldine says. "You'll be forced to be current, up-to-date, proactive and have preventive measures."

But, she notes, in the short term there's a huge time commitment involved in getting started, especially for farmers not doing some elements of the program already, such as defining and recording protocols or having milking equipment inspected annually.

However, Geraldine doesn't think the program will be more burdensome for small farms compared to large ones. Rather, it will depend on whether a farmer is already doing many of the things required.

What about the paperwork for CQM? Almost every farmer already records when a cow is treated and when the milk from that treated cow can be marketed again, says Frank Haasen, DFO board member for Northern Ontario and chair of the raw milk quality committee.  "CQM requires a little more formal way of doing those things," he explains, adding that the program requires farmers to keep a permanent record.

But Haasen says that, on his Timmins-area farm where he milks 90 cows, the permanent record requirement didn't result in "a huge amount of extra paperwork."

Geraldine says farmers may become discouraged when they first see the CQM workbook, so her advice is to break down the requirements into several steps. "Give yourself time to do it and don't procrastinate until the last minute. Don't start it when you're doing planting and haying."

Haasen agrees. Initially, farmers may be resistant to the program, as was the case with some producers in adopting mandatory Time Temperature Recorders about five years ago. Now, most farmers would say the recorders are exceptionally useful, he says. "I think the record-keeping for the Canadian Quality Milk program will be the same thing."

DFO expects some farmers won't be interested in adopting the program, but it hopes that the percentage will be small. Haasen and Hamilton both say they'd be surprised if its introduction leads to farmers quitting the industry. It's not like the large capital investment farmers had to make 40 years ago to install bulk tanks after shipping milk in cans, Haasen notes.

Farmers have a choice in what type of record-keeping they use. A computer-based system isn't mandatory, so farmers can use calendars or work books provided by CanWest Dairy Herd Improvement. "The program can be done as inexpensively as a producer wants," Haasen says.

Still there will be costs, such as the fee for the annual milking equipment maintenance inspection, Geraldine says, which will run to some hundreds of dollars. BF