Partnership will produce 10 webinars on various animal care topics.

Krissa Welshans 1, Feedstuffs Editor

September 13, 2016

3 Min Read
FARM Program, Merck jointly offer animal care training webinars

The Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program announced today that it is teaming up with Merck Animal Health to offer a series of informational webinars as part of the FARM Version 3.0 rollout. The webinar series will further build upon the strong partnership between the Merck Dairy Care365 Program and the FARM Program that was established last year.

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and Merck Animal Health announced last summer that the two groups would collaborate to help ensure a comprehensive, industry-wide approach to employee training and animal care in the dairy industry. Through the partnership, dairy producers across the country have access to the tools, resources and workshops available through the Merck Animal Health Dairy C.A.R.E. Initiative, which is designed to complement FARM.

The partnership will produce 10 webinars on various animal care topics, including calf care, stockmanship, antimicrobial stewardship and more. Participation in these webinars will help dairy farmers meet the new training requirements established in FARM Version 3.0. Each month will feature a different topic and will be recorded for viewing at a later date.

“Merck’s proactive, engaging partnership has greatly strengthened the FARM Animal Care Program, and we are grateful for their support for the program again this year,” said NMPF chief of staff Emily Meredith, who also leads the FARM Program. “These webinars, hosted by Merck Animal Health and leading animal health and welfare experts, will provide valuable training resources to producers and their employees.”

Rick Jackson, Merck Animal Health U.S. dairy product manager, said the Dairy C.A.R.E. Initiative was developed to help producers provide the best animal care by maintaining sound policies, hiring the right people and making sure they are properly trained.

“The new webinar series helps us meet our goal of offering supplemental materials dairy farmers can use to meet the new requirements under FARM Version 3.0 while supporting the significant efforts of dairy producers to continuously improve the care and handling of their animals,” he added. 

The video topics and release dates are as follows:

National Milk Educational Webinar Series

Topic

Audience

Presentation Date

Presenter

Dairy Stockmanship Skills

Co-ops, Producers

Sept. 29, 2016

Dr. Ben Bartlett

Calf Care

Co-ops, Producers

Oct. 6, 2016

Dr. Liz Cox

Euthanasia Guidelines

Co-ops, Producers

Oct. 20, 2016

Dr. Jan Shearer

Handling Non-Ambulatory Cattle

Co-ops, Produces

 Nov. 3, 2016

Dr. Greg Crosley

Pain Management

Co-ops, Producers

Nov. 17, 2016

TBD (NMPF)

Record Keeping & Drug Residue Prevention: An Industry Opportunity

Co-ops, Producers

Dec. 8, 2016


Dr. Norm Stewart

Building Strong Herd Health Programs

Co-ops, Producers

Dec. 15, 2016

Dr. Scott Nordstrom

Cattle Marketing

Co-ops, Producers

Jan. 12, 2017

Dr. Lowell Midla

Preparing for the Unexpected

Co-ops, Producers

Jan. 26, 2017

Rick Jackson

Emerging Issues

Co-ops, Producers

Feb. 9, 2017

TBD (NMPF)

In addition to hosting the webinars, the Merck Animal Health Dairy Care365 animal handling training videos will be available for viewing on the National Dairy FARM Program website.

The videos were shot on farms to provide a realistic representation of how cows behave and react to their surroundings. Through these videos, employees can learn how to work with dairy cattle and youngstock safely and effectively, move cows to the milking parlor and handle non-ambulatory cows, among other topics.

Merck Animal Health will enhance the availability of its already existing training materials by also posting content on its own FARM Program website.

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