ADDENDUM TO DAIRY STANDARDS
After extensive consultation Red Tractor has agreed the following changes to the Dairy
Standards. These changes come into effective on the 1st October 2013.
Definition of an Assessment Change:
The scheme definition of a dairy farm assessment has changed from 1st October 2013. From this date, the
assessment must include an assessment of the Standard and the welfare outcome scoring of 10 cows. This
is related to Rules 20 and 21 (where it states the assessment of stock is integral and the full inspection must
take place).
Animal Health and Welfare (AH)
DR.AH.1K
Updated
The welfare requirements of stock must be met
at all times.
DR.AH.3K
Updated
A pro-active approach must be taken to livestock
health management demonstrated by a written
health plan which must be established,
implemented and reviewed regularly according
to circumstances.
DR.AH.3.1R
Updated
Assessor Guidance has been
updated to link the scoring of
10 cows in identifying and
acting upon unmanaged
health and welfare issues.
Guidance on the change
The health plan must be farm-specific and
contain a strategy for the prevention and control
of common diseases and set out health and
husbandry procedures covering the whole of the
production cycle/year. The plan must be
established, implemented and made available as
appropriate to all staff who have responsibility for
the stock. The essential elements of the health
plan are described in the relevant appendix. The
health plan must be updated to include changes
to practices (including if a decision has been
made to implement recommendations made by
the vet following the annual review of health and
performance). For only minor changes the plan
does not need reproducing – annotations are
acceptable. The essential elements of the health
plan are described in the relevant appendix.
Some detail from this standard
has been taken out and put
into the other sub standards.
It is recommended that the health plan is
prepared in conjunction with the veterinary
surgeon.
The difference between the
previous standard is that the
revised standard is about
writing the health plan –
whereas previously it was
about writing and reviewing
ADDENDUM TO DAIRY STANDARDS
AH.3.2
Revised
Herd health and performance must be
monitored regularly.
The standards require as a minimum an
annual collation of incidence of health
conditions and performance from health and
performance records (e.g. medicine records
and records required by AH.5). Having
collated data will help the veterinary review
and to identify trends or emerging issues. See
the health plan template for the information
that must be collated for the monitoring.
This standard has been split out
from a previous standard to make
the audit points clearer.
Members will need to ensure they
have collated the new data
requirements so trends can be
reviewed by their vet.
Incidence data must be collated
for:
 Lameness
 Mastitis
 Culling rate (and reasons)
 Involuntary culls (New)
 Calf mortality (split
0>24hrs, 4hrs>42days)
(New)
DR.AH.3.3
New
Herd health and performance must be
reviewed annually by a vet.
The review requires a vet to review health and
performance records, data, see cows and
make recommendations (where applicable),
annually. The function of the review is to
identify trends in health and welfare, and to
generate discussion with the vet to identify
ways of managing and resolving issues. (Nb –
whilst professional veterinary advice should
provide cost-effective, practical proposals, it
should be noted that producers are not
absolutely bound to follow them). See the
health plan template for more detail on what
the vets should review and a proforma vets
should complete to demonstrate a review has
been undertaken (Nb: it is acceptable for vets
to build this wording into their own templates).
Completely new requirement.
The members vet needs to
review data/ records and to see
livestock in order to be able to
make some recommendations
ADDENDUM TO DAIRY STANDARDS
DR.AH.3.4R
New
It is recommended that mobility scoring is
conducted on a representative sample of the
herd at least every six months.
The scoring may be conducted by the producer
or a third party (e.g. veterinary paraprofessional)
on their behalf. Details of the industry accepted
DairyCo mobility scoring methodology are
available from www.dairyco.org.uk/healthyfeet.
See www.redtractorassurance.org.uk/dairy for
more guidance on conducting mobility scoring.
This standard is a
recommendation. Members
are not required to meet the
recommendation, but mobility
scoring is best practice.
It is recommended that the whole herd is mobility
scored regularly.
A summary of the results should be noted within
the health plan to be reviewed within the overall
health review by the vet.
DR.AH.5
Updated
(guidance
only)
Records of the health and performance of all
stock must be maintained
Maintaining performance and health records is
an essential element of the health planning
process as they allow the most significant
problems to be identified for priority attention,
within the health plan review process (with a vet
– see standard AH.3.3). The records that must
be maintained are:






Incidence of lameness
Incidence of mastitis
Fertility, reproductive disorders and
calving problems
Metabolic disorders
Calf diseases
Other diseases and conditions
The guidance for this
standard now details the
health performance records
required by it which were
previously only listed in the
appendix. This should make it
clear to the member which
records they are required to
keep.