INSTITUTO POLITÉCNICO DE SANTARÉM

ESCOLA SUPERIOR AGRÁRIA DE SANTARÉM

ANIMAL PRODUCTION ENGINEERING
LICENTIATE DEGREE COURSE

VACQA INTERNATIONAL WEBSITE

David Nuno Palma Quintino

SANTARÉM
2008
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 INSTITUTO POLITÉCNICO DE SANTARÉM
ESCOLA SUPERIOR AGRÁRIA DE SANTARÉM
ANIMAL PRODUCTION ENGINEERING
LICENTIATE DEGREE COURSE

VACQA INTERNATIONAL WEBSITE

This study was fulfilled in spite of the

Project curriculary unit.
Name: David Nuno Palma Quintino
Nr. 061182439

SANTARÉM
2008

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is with great pleasure that I express my gratitude:

to University Professor João Cannas da Silva, for the magnanimous availability

for the development of this essay and for the opportunity given for the fulfillment

of this training post;

to Professor António Luiz Gomes, for the remarkable preparation and availability

to enhance this essay;

to Professor Maria Elisabete Palma, for the generous support to structure this

essay;

to Professor Maria Virginia Crespo and to the Work Placement Comission of

ESAS, for the evident preoccupation and for the approval of this traineeship;

to the whole ESAS teaching staff, for all my superior instruction;

to the whole “Charrua family” for all the brotherhood and for my integration in this

school;

to my family, once without them the fulfillment of my course and this study would

not be possible;

and in special to my lady, Ana Lisboa, for all the love and support she gave me!

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ABREVIATIONS / SYMBOLS

BSE Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy

ESAS Escola Superior Agrária de Santarém (Santarém Superior School

of Agriculture)

HACCP Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points

CCP Critical Control Point

POPA Point Of Particular Attention

SWOT Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats

VACQA Veterinary Advice and Coaching in Quality Assurance

VTEC Verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli

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ABSTRACT

The implementation of a HACCP-like quality risk management program in dairy

farms, will improve the quality and quantity of production. To ease this

implementation, VACQA – International organization offers its clients SWOT

analysis for many zootechnic matters. These SWOT analyses are used to detect

strengths and weaknesses on these matters and this way it offers information for

what should be changed in the farm, making it easier for the farm owners and

their technicians.

Part of this training post consisted in making these SWOT analyses on eight

dairy farms. To fill out the field sheets, it was necessary: to perform an inspection

of the animals, the infrastructures, the feed and the handling; to check records

and laboratorial analysis of the feed, the water, the milk and the animals blood (if

existent); and to inquire the farm manager about the handling.

For this essay the ESAS dairy farm in Portugal, in the Ribatejo e Oeste region,

was selected to demonstrate the efficiency of the VACQA – International SWOT

analysis to detect strong points and weak points and establish priorities in the

farm management.

The results in the end demonstrated to be very efficient, quickly detecting the

aspects to improve.

Keywords: dairy cattle farm, cattle, haccp, management, risk, swot

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CONTENTS

1 - INTRODUCTION & GOALS ........................................................................ 8

2 - BILIOGRAPHICAL REVISION................................................................... 10

3 - MATERIAL AND METHODS ..................................................................... 12

3.1 - Analyzed farm location ........................................................................ 12

3.2 - VACQA – International Website .......................................................... 12

3.2.1 - Claw Health SWOT assessment ................................................... 13

3.2.2 - Udder Health SWOT assessment ................................................. 13

3.2.3 - Milk Production & Nutrition SWOT assessment ............................ 13

3.2.4 - Fertility SWOT assessment ........................................................... 13

3.2.5 - Calves SWOT assessment ........................................................... 14

3.2.6 - Bovine Welfare & Cow Comfort SWOT assessment ..................... 14

3.2.7 - Public Health & Food Safety ......................................................... 14

3.3 - Field Sheets......................................................................................... 15

3.4 - Data Introduction ................................................................................. 16

4 - RESULTS .................................................................................................. 17

5 - DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 18

6 - FINAL CONSIDERATIONS ....................................................................... 18

7 - BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES ......................................................... 19

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1 - INTRODUCTION & GOALS

Animal production has long been seen by a major part of the population as a

basic area, with out much knowledge involved and with a complicated future. But,

with the continuous advancement of science and market demand, it is each day

less alike. There is continuously more knowledge about animals, techniques and

detail for a greater and better production and the implementation of a HACCP-

based quality risk management program will organize all this knowledge,

avoiding these risks (instead of correcting them), and will maximize production

and, consequentially, the farm profit. The HACCP model is based in seven

principles:

1. prepare a list of steps in the production process at which targeted hazards

occur;

2. identify the critical control points, CCP, and the points of particular

attention, POPA, in the production process required to reduce or eliminate

the hazard;

3. establish critical limits for triggering the implementation of

corrective/preventive measures associated with each CCP and POPA

identified;

4. establish monitoring requirements for CCP and POPA. Use the results of

the monitoring program to ajust the procedures and maintain control of the

production process and for herd performance assessment;

5. determine corrective measures, to take when monitoring indicates that a

value falls outside established critical limits or beyond a given target;

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 6. establish effective record-keeping procedures that document that the

HACCP program has been implemented and is operational;

7. establish procedures to verify that the HACCP program is working

correctly. (NOORDHUIZEN, 2006)

To satisfy the first four principles the VACQA International organization created

many SWOT analyses for dairy farms.

The ideology of SWOT analysis has been used for more than two thousand

years: “Concentrate on the strong points, recognize your weaknesses, grab the

opportunities and protect yourself from the threats” (SUN TZU, 500 b.C.; quoted

by TARAPANOFF, 2001).

VACQA International is an organization based in different countries in Europe,

which aims at veterinary advice and coaching in quality assurance on dairy

farms.

For this study the ESAS (Santarém Superior School of Agriculture) dairy farm, in

the Ribatejo e Oeste region in Portugal, was selected to demonstrate the efficacy

of the VACQA International SWOT analysis’ on detecting strong points and weak

points to establish priorities in the farm management.

Prevention of
Healthy
Quality Risks Better Quality
Animals
(HACCP)

MORE PROFIT More Milk

Image 1: Logical result diagram of HACCP-like program implementation on dairy farms

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2 - BILIOGRAPHICAL REVISION

In the last decades dairy farming has been more and more intensified. (BRAND

et al., 1996; BAUMGARNER, 2002; quoted by CANNAS DA SILVA et al., 2006

a). Consequentially there is need of more man-power, more feed, more

equipment and material (BONNIER et al., 2004), so, dairy farm profits have been

falling. For this reason it is necessary to have, instead of an individual approach

(diagnosing and treating animals individually), an approach at farm level (BRAND

et al., 1996; BAUMGARNER, 2002; quoted by CANNAS DA SILVA et al., 2006

a), since a sick animal can be an indicator of a problem at that same level.

There must be a continuous and regular animal or group performance

monitoring, in order to detect (imminent) pathological problems and/or production

problems in an initial stage and, considering the farm conditions, detect possible

animal environment risk factors that may contribute to the disease occurrence. In

this monitorization many zootechnical aspects should be considered, like

nutrition, climatization, housing, equipment, milking and milking machine,

hygiene and disinfection. Also part of this monitorization is the verification of

available information: production records, milk quality data, laboratorial records,

disease records and fertility records (CANNAS DA SILVA et al., 2006 a).

Inevitably, this monitorization, apart of preventing farm level problems, will also

insure the farm quality. Farm quality nowadays is of great importance, because in

the last years the media have been ostensibly exposing food safety failures, like

BSE, VTEC (LIEVAART et al., 2005), salmonelosis and listeriosis, particularly in

developed countries (CANNAS DA SILVA et al., 2008).

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In order to fulfill the requirements of this new approach, based on record tracking

and continuous monitoring (CANNAS DA SILVA et al., 2006 a), it is

recommended to implement a method based on the HACCP model, since it is

considered to be a preventive and science-based systematic method, whose first

priority is the safety of the products through risk identification and risk

management in the production process, having a proactive, rather than reactive,

approach avoiding the problems instead of fixing them (CANNAS DA SILVA et

al., 2008). One of the stages of the HACCP model is carrying out SWOT analysis

(CANNAS DA SILVA et al., 2006 a).

The SWOT analysis consists in a tool for scenario (or environment) analysis that

is used as a business management and strategic business planning, but due to

its simplicity it can be used for any kind of scenario analysis (TARAPANOFF,

2001). This way, we can use SWOT-assessments to effectively identify the farm

strong points and weak points and from there, to set up a protocol to improve

these weak points (CANNAS DA SILVA et al., 2006 a). The VACQA International

website, disposes of some SWOT-assessments developed for dairy cattle,

namely related to claw health, udder health, milk production and nutrition, herd

fertility, calves, bovine welfare and cow comfort, and, public health and food

safety. Based on the outcomes of the SWOT-assessment, priorities for action on

the shorter and the longer term can be identified, and corrective and preventive

measures developed. These SWOT-assessment sheets can also be used to

detect trends, for example after advice has been given, in order to determine

whether progress has been made over time (CANNAS DA SILVA et al., 2006 b).

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3 - MATERIAL AND METHODS

3.1 - Analyzed farm location

In this traineeship, quality risk assessments were carried out at eight dairy farms

in the Ribatejo e Oeste region in Portugal. This region assumes a distinguished

part in the Portuguese agriculture panorama for its production systems diversity,

for the quantity and quality of its agro-products, for its dynamic farmers and

simultaneously for its profits and for the level of competition between them

(TRINDADE, 2006, quoted by PARDAL, 2006). The selected dairy farm for this

essay was the RZ9A4 farm from ESAS (39°14'56'' N; 8°41'51'' W).

3.2 - VACQA – International Website

The VACQA International SWOT assessments (available online at www.vacqa-

international.com in six languages), developed by J. P. T. M. Noordhuizen, J.

Cannas da Silva, J. S. C. Boersema e A. Vieira, were used to detect strong

points and weak points in dairy farms. VACQA International supplies it is

customers with SWOT assessments for the following domains: Claw Health,

Udder Health, Milk Production and Nutrition, Fertility, Calves, Bovine Welfare and

Cow Comfort, and Public Health and Food Safety.

These assessments involve three tasks:

animal, housing, feed and handling inspection;

record, feed, water, milk and blood laboratory results check up;

and an inquiry to the farmer/person in charge of the handling.

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Each one of the SWOT assessments is detailed and divided in many fields,

according to the nature of each analysis.

3.2.1 - Claw Health SWOT assessment

This SWOT assessment is found divided in: general information; clinical

monitoring; claw lesion diagnosis, housing, climate, feed and feeding;

management; and other health issues.

3.2.2 - Udder Health SWOT assessment

This SWOT assessment is found divided in: general information; clinical

monitoring; hygiene at & around milking; milking equipment; milking procedures;

housing; climate (barn & milking parlor); mastitis management; veterinary udder

health control; and other management issues.

3.2.3 - Milk Production & Nutrition SWOT assessment

This SWOT assessment is found divided in: general information; milk production

data; nutrition general items; nutrition feed quality assessment; nutrition ration

evaluation & formulation; grassland exploitation & grazing; clinical inspection;

health & reproduction inspection; and other additional observations.

3.2.4 - Fertility SWOT assessment

This SWOT assessment is found divided in: general information; farm

management; fertility records; herd level fertility problems; fertility problems

related to herd and farm factors; fertility problems related to animal factors;

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artificial insemination/natural breeding; veterinary clinical inspection; and herd

specific problems related to calving season.

3.2.5 - Calves SWOT assessment

This SWOT assessment is found divided in: general information; housing;

climate; general hygiene & feeding management; general feeding procedures

young calves; health prevalence/incidence; growth/feeding; colostrums

management; milk replacer feeding or automatic feeding systems; heifer comfort

management; insemination management; and birth history & calving

management.

3.2.6 - Bovine Welfare & Cow Comfort SWOT assessment

This SWOT assessment is found divided in: general information; health & health

management; behavioral aspects; housing, equipment & climate; feed & feeding

management; and management issues.

3.2.7 - Public Health & Food Safety

This SWOT assessment is found divided in: general information; sampling for

disease detection; biosecurity including general hygiene issues; udder health,

milking & milking hygiene; milk quality; and management.

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3.3 - Field Sheets

To make data introduction on the website easier, there are field sheets in English

available for the Claw Health, Udder Health, Milk Production & Nutrition, Fertility

and Calves SWOT assessments. The reformulation (according to the three tasks

named in 3.2) and the translation of these field sheets, and also the creation of

the Bovine Welfare & Cow Comfort, and Public Health and Food Safety SWOT

assessment field sheets was also part of this traineeship.

Image 2: First page of the Bovine Welfare & Cow Comfort SWOT analysis field sheets.

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3.4 - Data Introduction

After filling up the field sheets, the collected data can then be introduced in the

VACQA International website. In the website there is a scoring system from 1

(best) to 5 (worst), that is adapted to each of the parameters. If not sure about

the data to insert, the user can place the mouse pointer over the scoring slot to

open the parameter help window. Once inserted, the online software calculates

the average score and presents graphically each of the assessment domains and

a total score of the farm, and it also displays the CCP and POPA detected.

Image 3: VACQA International website SWOT analysis data introduction page.

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4 - RESULTS

The SWOT assessments carried on at the ESAS farm, before the translation and

reformulation of the field sheets, took about seven hours to execute excluding the

introduction of the data on the website. After some practice, the translation and

the reformulation of the field sheets, these assessments took about three hours

to execute, revealing a lot of efficiency.

The introduction of the data on the VACQA International website took about

ninety minutes, displaying immediately the detailed results of the assessments

(Strong Points, Weak Points, CCP and POPA).

Image 4: VACQA International SWOT analysis results page.

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5 - DISCUSSION

The results demonstrated the efficiency of the VACQA International SWOT

assessments, since that in little time they identified the farms strong points, weak

points, PCC and POPA.

6 - FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

It is important to notice that these assessments, to be well effectuated, require

some practice (notion of other farms, for comparison) and zootechnic knowledge

in many domains. Namely it is necessary to know how to evaluate body

condition, rumen fill, faeces consistency, undigested faeces fraction, locomotion,

bedding material quality, animal and infrastructure hygiene and knowledge about

dairy cattle handling.

The fertility SWOT assessment could not be finished dew to a lack of

organization and coherence of the existent data on the farm computer.

In a near future, new SWOT assessments will be made to the farm for relative

scoring with other farms.

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7 - BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

BONNIER, P.; MAAS, A.; RIJKS, J. (2004) – Agrodok 14, Dairy Cattle
Husbandry. Second Edition. Wageningen, The Netherlands: Agromisa
Foundation. 84 pp.

CANNAS DA SILVA, J.; NOORDHUIZEN, J.; VAGNEUR, M.; BEXIGA, R.;

GELFERT, C.; BAUMGARTNER, W. (2006 a) – The Future of
Veterinarians in Bovine Herd Health Management. Nice, France:
Proceedings of World Buiatrics Congress XXIV. 12 pp.

CANNAS DA SILVA, J.; NOORDHUIZEN, J.; GINGÃO, P.; BOERSEMA, S.;

VIEIRA, A. (2006 b) – What is VACQA?. © VACQA International, available
online at: www.vacqa-international.com. Accessed in March 15th of 2009.

CANNAS DA SILVA, J.; NOORDHUIZEN, J. (2008) – Consumer Safety &

HACCP-like Quality Risk Management programs on Dairy Farms: The role
of veterinarians. The Open Veterinary Science Journal 2008, available
online at: www.bentham.org/open/tovsj. Accessed in March 15th of 2009.

LIEVAART, J.; NOORDHUIZEN, J.; BEEK, E.; BEEK, C.; RISP, A.; SCHENKEL,
J.; VEERSEN, J. (2005) – The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point’s
(HACCP) concept as applied to some chemical, physical and
microbiological contaminants of milk on dairy farms. A prototype. Utrecht,
The Netherlands: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University.
Veterinary Quarterly 2005; 27(1); 21-29 p.

NOORDHUIZEN, J.; CANNAS DA SILVA, J.; BOERSEMA, J. (2006) – The

Handbook of HACCP-like applications on Dairy Farms. © VACQA
International, available online at: www.vacqa-international.com. Accessed
in March 15th of 2009.

PARDAL, P. (2006) – A Agricultura no Ribatejo e Oeste. Santarém, Portugal:

Escola Superior Agrária de Santarém, Unidade Curricular de Actividades
Pecuárias. Not published. 10 pp.

TARAPANOFF, K. (2001) – Inteligência Organizacional e Competitiva. Brasília,

Brasil: Editora UNB.

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