Verified Beef Production is Gaining Ground in Saskatchewan

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

The level of sophistication that today’s beef production requires is gaining acceptance in the industry, as the Verified Beef Production program is increasingly taken on by both producers and processors in the province, according to Janice Sopatyk, Program Administrator for the Quality Starts Here/Verified Beef Production (QSHVBP) program in Saskatchewan.

QSHVBP is a national program, launched under the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, with roots going back to 1994. The Saskatchewan Quality Starts Here Working Group administers the Verified Beef Program in the province. The idea is to encourage producers to adopt good production practices, such as giving injections in the neck instead of in the rump where the high-quality cuts of meat are. The program requires that producers keep records of treatments and vaccinations to ensure the appropriate use of medications.

"The Verified Beef Program is, in essence, the combination of good production practices with the documentation to prove this is what you are actually doing," explains Sopatyk. "It is a voluntary program. If producers wish, they can attend the workshop and implement the program in their operations, and then go on to be audited and fully registered with the VBP program."

The initial registration audit involves an on-farm visit. The auditor goes through the facilities, looks at how producers store and mix medicated feed, and how they store farm chemicals. The auditor reviews the treatment and vaccination program, as well as the documentation, and ensures that producers have a prohibited feed affidavit from their feed company swearing that there are no prohibited materials in their protein supplements.

“We have a couple of small meat processors in Saskatchewan and Alberta now who support the program and are requiring their cattle producer/suppliers go through the program," she explains. "Natural Valley Farms in Wolseley and Western Prime Meats out of Weyburn are having their producers attend the workshop and implement the program as a requirement of shipping animals to their processing plants. Prairie Heritage Beef in Alberta also has producers in Saskatchewan, and they are in the process of making it mandatory for their producers to attend the workshop, implement the program, pass the audit and be registered with the VBP program as well."

Sopatyk believes these processors are the first to have actually requested that their suppliers participate in the VBP program, which represents significant progress in her view.

So far in Saskatchewan, over 750 production units have attended the workshop in the last three-and-a-half years, notes Sopatyk. Twenty operations have been audited and registered, and another four are in the process of completing the audit.

"The acceptance rate may seem a bit low in comparison with the Canadian Quality Assurance (CQA) program for the hog industry, but we have approximately 20,000 beef producers in the province, as opposed to 400 pork producers, and the beef industry is far less integrated," she explains. "Also, there are no major beef processors in Saskatchewan that require VBP registration, unlike the hog industry, where all major pork processors require CQA certification."

Sopatyk feels it is going to take longer to get people in the beef sector to come on board—especially getting processors and packers to require the audit—but she is happy with the progress made thus far.

“We are starting to see a growth in interest with niche processors, and we expect the overall commitment to keep growing.”

If you are interested in attending a VBP producer workshop in your area, contact Dave Long, Provincial Co-ordinator, at 306-762-2033 or dlong@qualitystartshere.sk.ca.

More information can be obtained at www.qualitystartshere.sk.ca or www.qualitystartshere.org.

For more information, contact:

Janice Sopatyk, DVM
Program Administrator
Quality Starts Here Verified Beef Production (QSHVBP)
(306) 376-4422
jsopatyk@qualitystartshere.sk.ca