Safe feed for your stock

What you feed your livestock effects overall productivity, meat quality, livestock health and sustainability. The Livestock Production Assurance (LPA) program specifically highlights the importance of safe livestock feed practices for all stock foods, fodder crops, grain and pasture which are provided to your livestock.

Understanding Restricted Animal Materials (RAM)

Under LPA and national legislation, there must be a guarantee that animals are not fed Restricted Animal Materials, including:

• meat
• bone meal
• blood
• dog biscuits
• poultry offal
• feather meal
• fishmeal
• any other animal meals or manures.

It does not include tallow, treated recycled cooking oils, gelatine, milk or milk products.

To minimise the risk of contamination, it is important to keep and store products that may contain RAM separately and securely from livestock, with careful consideration to:

• dog biscuits (where dog kennels are in holding yards or paddocks)
• poultry and pig feeds, storage and mixing equipment
• poultry and pig manures, particularly on pastures
• containers and machinery that have come in contact with RAM

Livestock exposed to food containing or contaminated with RAM pose a biological risk to food safety and human health.

Avoiding exposure to chemicals

Livestock exposed to excessive chemicals are highly likely to contain unacceptable levels of residues at the time of slaughter, compromising food safety and harming the reputation of Australian red meat. To ensure we meet customer expectations, livestock owners must undertake safe livestock feed practices, including:

• ensuring livestock are not provided feed or access to pasture that is still in a withholding period after chemical application or otherwise contains unacceptable chemical residues
• keeping records of chemical application on pasture or stored feed and seek CVDs for introduced feed
• storing products that may contain RAM or unacceptable chemical residues separate from feed that will be fed to ruminant livestock.
• identify and keep records of any livestock that were inadvertently exposed and declare this on outgoing NVDs.

Repercussions for non-compliance may include failure to be paid for the livestock, and possible legal liability for the resulting cost faced by processors and the rest of the supply chain.  

Commodity Vendor Declarations

In the same way livestock movements must be accompanied by a LPA  National Vendor Declaration (NVD), all introduced stock feeds should be accompanied by a Commodity Vendor Declaration (CVD) to guarantee that the feed purchased is safe from chemical contamination.

The CVD needs to provide details of:

• chemicals used to treat the commodity
• rate and date of chemical application
• relevant WHP/ESI/Export Animal Feed Interval (EAFI) as shown on the chemical label.

If a CVD is not obtained, feed must be assessed for risk. This can include applying a 60-day withholding period to the feed before providing it to livestock, retaining a sample of the feed, testing a sample for chemical residues or if the feed has already been provided to livestock, applying a 60-day withholding period to the animals before they are sent for processing.

Tips for safe stock feed

To effectively comply with the requirements of safe animal feed, all members of the value chain must:

• allow only people who are trained and competent to use approved chemicals – as well as abide by the legal directions
• ensure that any equipment used to apply or measure chemicals is working correctly before use and cleaned before and after use
• ensure livestock are not fed Restricted Animal Material (RAM)
• ensure agricultural chemicals are stored in a safe place according to instructions – particularly where animals cannot reach them
• ensure management systems are in place to identify livestock that may have accessed treated paddocks or contaminated feed
• record agricultural treatments, including spray drift and introduced stock feed by completing an LPA NVD/Waybill, and passing this on when selling stock
• have a management system in place to map or list treated and contaminated areas and signpost them on-farm
• file a Commodity Vendor Declaration (CVD) that accompanies all introduced stock feeds
• review and complete the fodder crop, grain and pasture treatments and stock food checklist.

By treating our stock foods, fodder crops, grain and pastures safely and responsibly, we can help ensure livestock and the meat they produce do not pose a food safety risk to our consumers which helps to maintain the integrity of Australia’s red meat industry.