You don’t send cows to market that have a drug residue in them. However, someone else might! Although back tags applied at the auction should correspond to the consignor, stories have been told where a producer didn’t sell cattle on a day they are accused of sending a cow that had a drug residue. You never intended to send cows to slaughter that have a drug residue, however, mistakes do occur. Creating and maintaining Sold Cow Reports are an easy way to provide evidence that it wasn’t your cow with a residue that day or that it was an honest mistake rather than negligence.
We recommend generating a Sold Cow Report for every load of cows permanently leaving the operation. At a minimum the report should detail:
- Date of the report
- Cow ID
- The last recorded health event and remark prior to removal (last 2-3 is even better)
- The last meat withdrawal dates recorded
- The date and reason sold.
If you use handwritten records:
- Write up the report before cows load on the truck.
If you use dairy management software:
- Make use of available tools for drug treatment tracking that will calculate and record milk and meat withdrawal dates (only about half of dairies make use of these tools).
- Sell the cows in the computer before they are loaded on the truck.
- Print the Sold Cow Report.
**Review the Sold Cow Report before cows are loaded on the truck and leave.
**Save a copy in a file for at least 2 years.
Benefits of the Sold Cow Report
- This is a good final check that calculated withdrawal times are being observed, reducing the risk of cows leaving the farm with a residue. *Assuming the withdrawal times were appropriate for the treatments given.
- Provide evidence that it wasn’t your cow if source was uncertain. The ability to quickly produce a report detailing cows sold on a given date, their last treatments and withdrawal dates from a large file of such reports instills confidence that you maintain adequate records that reduce the risk of drug residues in cows you market.
| Dairy Comp 305® Example | DHI-Plus® Example |