Compliance for Livestock

A Proactive Approach to Compliance for Livestock Farms

PCO and Rodale discuss common compliance issues on livestock operations and how to address them

BY justine cOOk, PcO certificatiOn PrOgraM assistant Manager

Regardless of whether you are employing traditional farming practices handed down through generations or using cutting-edge technology and methods, you may encounter compliance issues in the process of organic certification if you don’t understand the basic requirements of the regulations and how compliance works. In addition to the practices you use, an important part of certification is understanding the framework and administration of the regulations. Electing to participate in the organic certification process means you are signing up for a third-party verification system; you are being evaluated for compliance with a national standard (National Organic Program, or NOP, regulations) by an accredited certifier (PCO). Rodale Institute offers organic farm consulting to support the efforts of farmers who are interested in getting certified. Rodale and PCO recently collaborated on a webinar entitled “Common Livestock Noncompliances and How to Avoid Them” to highlight a select number of pitfalls that farmers may encounter on their organic certification journey and how to respond to these issues if they occur.

WHAT IS THE COMPLIANCE PROCESS?

When we’re talking about a noncompliance, we’re talking about an instance when an operation does not meet the requirements of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 or the NOP organic regulations. It’s important that the operator understand and be familiar with those regulations and what they require prior to applying for certification. In addition to the legal language of the Code of Federal Regulations, there are guidance documents and forms that can assist the organic operation in providing the needed infor

Photo: Rodale Institute

mation and making sure their practices are clear. For example, PCO offers a guidance document on how to calculate dry matter intake (DMI) from pasture during the grazing season and forms that can be used to document ruminant feed rations and grazing plans.

If you look at the regulations, you may be wondering how compliance is determined for some of those requirements. Many parts of the regulations provide firm directives, including numbers (e.g. the requirement that ruminants receive a minimum of 30% dry matter intake from pasture during the grazing season), but other regulations may use words like “sufficient” or “suitable to the species.” While some may find that frustrating, its purpose is to provide space for adaptability to a specific operation; it allows you to make production decisions based on your geographic area, climate, and production goals instead of requiring all operations to conform to a specific production model. It’s important to find out from your certifier whether they have any internal policies, or if they use any external references, for determining compliance with regulations that appear to have room for interpretation. For example, PCO has specific policies on the methods used for dehorning and disbudding cattle — including age the procedure is performed and whether vet consultation is required — to determine compliance with the requirement that physical alterations be done “in a manner that minimizes pain and stress.” If your planned methods do not meet an internal certifier policy, you would be required to either alter your planned practice or submit justification showing how your practice meets the letter of the regulation.

Finally, if an organic operator does receive a Notification of Noncompliance, it’s important to understand the compliance process. The notification will include an overview of the compliance issue and how it was concluded that you were not in compliance with the regulations, cite the spe

cific regulation(s) in question, and provide a deadline for your response, which could include a correction plan or rebuttal. Certifiers are prohibited from giving advice or providing consulting services for overcoming barriers to certification; however, certifiers must explain the regulations and can provide you with context for the compliance issue and point you to resources that may assist you in figuring out a correction plan. Failing to respond to a noncompliance letter escalates the issue to a proposed suspension or possible revocation of your certificate. Clear and timely responses are the path to resolving compliance issues. The compliance process and expectations for both the certifier and the certified operation are detailed in the regulations.

COMMON ISSUES WITH LIVESTOCK REGULATIONS COMPLIANCE

A general topic or group of practices may fall under several regulations; for example, the type of housing you provide and the housing features may be regulated under Livestock Health Care Practice Standard and Livestock Living Conditions Standard, as well as regulations that touch on allowed materials or manure management. It’s important to be familiar enough with the regulations to know that there is an interconnected aspect between general requirements, living conditions, health, and materials used. Besides the failure to understand a requirement, most unintentional issues that arise for operations are a result of one or more of the following: changing a plan without notifying their certifier, not correcting an issue from a previous year, and/or unclear or incomplete recordkeeping, which can create the appearance of an organic integrity issue. The areas covered in the webinar included livestock housing issues, temporary confinement practices, animal identification systems, tracking and recording feed rations for ruminants, materials misuse, and recordkeeping gaps. In this article, we’ll look at three of the highlighted topics; the full discussion can be accessed online through Rodale’s YouTube page.

The regulations require that animals have access to the outdoors year-round, unless there are specific, compliant reasons for temporary confinement, which are outlined under the Livestock Living Conditions Standard (§205.239) and defined (§205.2 Terms Defined). Providing outdoor access is allowing animals with the opportunity to exit their housing; so certifiers are looking for whether animals can move in and out of their housing freely; we’re looking at the number of exits and the size of the exits and that there is no obstruction that discourages the animals from exiting the house. When outdoor access is restricted, certifiers check to make sure the reason is compliant and the duration is temporary. If the doors of a poultry house or barn aren’t opened on days when you’re not on the farm, that is not a compliant reason for confining organic animals. Confinement records must include both the reason the animals were confined and the amount of time they were confined; we’ve seen operators use paper or digital calendars, notebooks, and computer spreadsheets to track this information.

NOP requirements for pasture access and grazing management are very important to be well-versed in if you’re raising organic ruminants. There’s a specific definition for the grazing season and there are specific requirements for documenting what your ruminants are eating both during and outside of that grazing season. This is partially to make sure that each group is getting at least 30% DMI from pasture averaged over the grazing season and also to allow for feed audits. Operators may keep these records in a combination of ways, as long as it’s clear how many pounds of each type of feed are fed to the animals throughout the year. Some common issues we’ve seen on this subject include operators supplementing a ration with hay, but not tracking the actual pounds of hay fed; failure to document when they deviate from a planned ration, which may happen due to feed availability or feed quality; or just the absence of a clear method for tracking or calculating DMI, which may lead to shortages later in the season. If there are weather extremes like flooding or droughts, you want to be tracking where you are with the average DMI from grazing throughout the season. Periodically checking your compliance with grazing requirements allows you to make management decisions early (e.g. sowing a summer annual for grazing or grazing hay fields). And, just a note, if you are in an area that received a disaster declaration due to weather, and that discontinued on page 22