Are you a Canadian beef producer working toward VBP+ Certification for the first time or preparing for a renewal assessment?
VBP+ wants to ensure you feel ready and have resources at your fingertips so your on-farm assessment can be completed more efficiently, in less time and with greater ease.
If you are considering certification, training is the place to start. VBP+ training explains the VBP+ Standard criteria and examines the records needed for an on-farm assessment.
Pre-Certification Consultation
Producers who participate in a pre-certification consultation with a VBP+ Coordinator or watch a pre-certification webinar prior to an on-farm assessment are consistently better prepared.
The pre-certification webinar includes valuable tips to ensure the on-farm assessment process is clear and simple. Watch the recording for key information:
• How to get ready for an on-farm assessment
• What to expect before the assessor visits your operation
• Where will the assessor want to visit on your farm
• Incentives available with your certification
• CRSB Certification details
• Q&A for unique operational systems and processes
What To Expect During an On-Farm Assessment
Let’s talk: On-farm assessments are designed to feel like a conversation between you and the assessor. VBP+ assessors are producers themselves and are experienced with cattle production in Canada.
Take a tour: During the farm walk-through, you can plan to show the assessor a variety of areas on your farm such as cattle, calving grounds, water sources, feeding areas, handling facilities, feed storage, pastures, medicated feed storage and equipment, minerals and supplements, non-ruminant feeds, chemical storage, lagoons or septic systems, animal health product storage and delivery equipment. What can’t be covered during the tour (due to remote location or weather) can be explained verbally.
Show off your records: Your on-farm assessment will also include a discussion about critical records. Some certification criteria can be met through verbal descriptions, while others require that you show physical records in the way that works best for you. There is no mandatory record-keeping format, however VBP+ offers a selection of record-keeping templates if you choose to use them. At the completion of the assessment, the assessor will discuss any actions that may need to be taken on your operation to meet specific criteria and work with you to create a plan for corrections if needed.
What Will Be Assessed on My Operation?
To become VBP+ Certified, various criteria are assessed on-farm, providing a holistic view of production practices on the operation.
Animal Health: Examines how animal health products are used on your operation and how cattle health is managed. Criteria are based on the beef industry Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan to reduce risks of negative outcomes for cattle health or food safety.
Animal Nutrition: Assesses your operation’s process for ensuring cattle have adequate quantities and quality of feed and water. These criteria include how cattle condition is monitored, how medicated feed is managed and how contamination risks are avoided on the operation.
Animal Care: Examines your processes for cattle handling and shelter, management of painful procedures and animal stress as well as how cattle are regularly monitored on your operation. The requirements for this section are informed by the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Beef Cattle.
Vulnerable, Distressed and High-Risk Cattle: Criteria assess how cattle with a poor prognosis are managed on your operation. Specifically, this section covers euthanasia decision making, euthanasia processes and how operations manage deadstock.
Transportation: Examines practices when transporting cattle, including pre-transport checks to ensure cattle are free of withdrawals and physical hazards and are fit for transport, as well as demonstrating an understanding of transport regulations for compromised or unfit cattle and transfer of care documentation for cattle transferred to a new owner.
Biosecurity: Assesses on-farm practices to minimize the risks of disease spreading onto, off and within your operation, including management of animal movements, visitors, tools and equipment. This section also examines how operations work with their veterinarian to prevent and manage disease. This section is informed by the Canadian Beef Cattle Biosecurity Standard.
Environmental Stewardship: Examines how you work to reduce your operation’s impact on the environment, including management of water, air quality, soil nutrients and land resources. This section also examines processes for wildlife management and chemical inputs, as well as practices to prevent foreign objects from penetrating cattle hides on the operation.
Emergency Response and Preparedness: Evaluates your plans to manage disasters or emergencies on your operation. This section is intended to encourage producers to think about how to respond to an emergency before it happens, thereby minimizing damage and stress if an incident were to occur.
Training and Mentoring: Addresses the management of human resources on your operation. Even family operations without hired staff benefit from a plan to ensure a safe work environment and growth opportunities for people working on the farm.
Community and Leadership: Assesses how your operation interacts with the broader community and integrates new technologies and innovations. Innovation and community involvement can mean different things in different operations, so this standard is not meant to be prescriptive, but rather to recognize the efforts beef producers are making as leaders in their communities, the values of their operation and their efforts towards production efficiency.
How Do I Score?
Criteria are assessed with a scoring system from 0 to 3, reflecting the depth of implementation for a particular practice or process on the operation. The scoring system is generally based on the following continuum:
0 – No awareness or knowledge of the criteria
1 – Knowledge and verbal description of how your operation meets the criteria
2 – Records to prove implementation of the criteria along with a verbal description of the process
3 – Written protocol of process and records to prove implementation
Some criteria, called Critical Control Points (CCP), are criteria which require records. These criteria are mostly on-farm food safety criteria and are used to prove a commitment to producing safe and quality beef. CCPs are required criteria. A minimum score of two is required for these criteria. All other criteria are standard criteria. A minimum score of one is required for these criteria.
What Do I Have To Do for Renewal Assessments?
To maintain the rigor of the five-year assessment cycle, VBP+ performs an assessment of your operation every year. The cycle begins in year one with the on-farm assessment. Then, in years two through five of the assessment cycle, simple records assessments and self-declarations replace the on-farm assessment.
VBP+ is here to help!
VBP+ is committed to helping beef producers feel confident and prepared for their on-farm assessment. For more resources, producers are encouraged to contact their VBP+ provincial coordinator for more information or to explore these related resources: