Preparing for your Bord Bia quality assurance audit on your farm is an important task that should be carried out to ensure the audit goes smoothly.
The audit generally lasts two hours, but preparations for the inspection should be completed long in advance of the day it falls on.
Teagasc drystock advisor, Ciaran Beatty, provided some information on how to prepare for your Bord Bia audit.
Beatty urged farmers to remember to have read their most recent letter from Bord Bia, which will have noted a few specific areas for improvement on their farm following the last inspection.
He added there is a “substantial amount of paperwork to complete”, and he advised farmers to “not to leave it all to the day before the visit”.
Bord Bia audit
Firstly, farmers can check their own individual status and cert expiry date by going to the Bord Bia website, entering ‘check producer status’ and putting in their own herd number.
For the inspection, the bovine register herd book has to be available and all births, deaths and movements must be up to date.
All movement permits and knackery receipts must be available to be viewed by the auditor on request.
Also, farmers should keep their recent cattle purchases and sales dockets from marts and factories, along with their cattle cards available on the day.
Keeping records
The animal remedy purchase and usage records must be completed and up to date.
According to Bord Bia, the majority of problems uncovered during an audit leading to failure relate to record keeping on animal remedies and medicines.
Beatty advised that farmers have a full record of all remedy/medical purchases and usages prior to inspection.
Information recorded must include date of purchase, medicine name, quantity purchased and name and address of supplier.
The farmer then needs to record date of administration, name of medicine, quantity given, identification of animal, date and end of withdrawal period, name of person giving the dose or name of prescribing vet, Beatty added.
The Teagasc advisor also said Bord Bia provide a farm book to complete in relation to the animal health plan where the dosing/vaccination programme is outlined.
Bord Bia audits
A pesticide usage record will also be required if any spraying or weed licking took place on the farm.
Information such as product name, pesticide control service (PCS) number, crop treated, area treated, volume of water used and date applied, along with professional usage number, is necessary.
A sustainability survey must also be completed before arrival of auditor on farm. This can be completed online with a password supplied by Bord Bia on their website.
Farm safety
The farm safety risk assessment book also has to be completed and available for inspection.
This includes important information outlining what steps are taken to maximise safety on the farm, which needs to be updated each year.
Beatty also said farmers should have their farm safety signs visible and displayed on farm.
Bait points for rodents must be mapped out, footbaths topped up with disinfectant and a functional medicine cabinet, which can be locked, as well as a first aid kit present on the holding during the audit.