WASHINGTON, D.C. — With new deadlines for antimicrobial drug use fast approaching, Farm Foundation has announced it will be conducting 10 regional meetings over the next six months.

“It’s very clear that bacterial resistance to antibiotics is becoming a major challenge for all of us,” said Neil Conklin, president of Farm Foundation.

The new U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations will require producers and veterinarians to phase out medically important antimicrobial drugs by 2017.

To help with the adjustments, the staff of Farm Foundation conducted a forum in mid-May and will use the regional meetings to collect information to present to lawmakers, Conklin said.

“We’ll be bringing this information to them to help them plan what they’ll be able to do to help producers adjust,” he said. “Change is happening and it’ll be interesting to watch, to make it productive to all of us.”

Larry Granger, a veterinarian with the USDA, said research will continue even after the new policies are in place to limit antibiotics use in animals. “Small, sometimes very tiny changes can result in huge impacts to the overall system,” he said.

As animals are raised with limited exposure to antibiotics, data will be collected on how it has impacted them, consumers and the farmers.

“It might have more impact than we realize,” he said. “We’re gathering the data we need, we’re analyzing the data and providing the information back to the people who can use it.”

The data will impact policymakers and it will also provide producers with needed information, allowing them to respond and take useful action. Granger said working in cooperation with veterinarians will be important in implementation of any programs.

The veterinarians will likely be the largest contributors to data collected. In addition to collecting information about the treatment and health of livestock, Grander would like them to collect information on pets – which are also treated with antibiotics and in closer contact with humans than livestock.

Ideally, a database would be developed that could track livestock from the slaughterhouse to the farm and provide farmers treatment practices.

Everything he would like to see happen is resource-intense, Granger said, and likely to cost significant money, more than is currently earmarked for farm regulations.

“Because everything I’ve talked about here is voluntary … we have to cooperate with industry groups,” he explained.

The bureaucratic process can take months, he added. Any questionnaire sent to farmers needs to be prepared now to guarantee it is in the mail next year. “It’s going to take a long time to see the effect of the changes we’re making right now,” Granger said. “Funding is probably our biggest challenge.”

Cheri DeJong, a Texas dairy farmer, said her cattle receive almost no drugs and is tracked in detail to the animal when it is provided. Each cow has an ear tag and electronic ID to monitor feed, use of antibiotics and any other care the animal receives. One of the keys to detailed records is properly trained employees. Employees just starting their training are closely monitored while only the most skilled and experienced treat cattle based on guidelines provided by the veterinarian. “Anyone who sets foot on our farm needs animal welfare training,” she said.

DeJong said the goal is to provide safe food and the key to that is healthy cows. She said a shortage of veterinarians for large animals may need to be one of the focuses of the program.

“Getting information and veterinarian requirements to smaller farmers will be hard,” she noted.