Customer Information

On January 1, 2017 – the 2015 Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) final ruling by the FDA will go into effect.

As most are aware, in general, the revisions to VFD’s has added additional “medically important” antibiotics to the VFD drug list. These revisions will reclassify certain over-the-counter (OTC) antibiotics now require a VFD (also referred to as a “VFD order”) from a veterinarian for use after 1/1/17. This is particularly important to our customers, as chlortetracycline (CTC) is included as a VFD drug. Therefore, the continued use of CTC must now be accompanied by a VFD order through your veterinarian to us – for either LNC customized feed blends, or range mineral products (FortiGraze) that are purchased from LNC.

Our Commitment

• We WILL receive, and process, VFD orders for Chlortetracycline. We will ONLY carry, and incorporate, Aureomycin and Chloromax products. In both blended feed and our FortiGraze minerals, Aureomycin will be used. For those customers that blend on-farm, we will also supply Chloromax 50.
• The following LNC locations will receive and process VFD’s: Foreman AR, Saginaw TX, Altus OK, Chickasha OK, Guthrie OK, Keota OK, Paris TX, Hereford TX, and Kansas City, MO.
• We are willing, if needed, to communicate directly with your veterinarian in order to validate the specific concentration of CTC, ensure that we are following label directions for use, and that the proper source of CTC is provided on the VFD.
• In addition, we will identify potential drug combinations, and other details that we are aware of while developing your specific blends.

We appreciate your business, and look forward to assisting you through these new FDA regulations.

Dealers

Prior to selling any VFD medicated feeds, you must send a one-time distributor notification to the FDA.  This statement lets the FDA know that you plan on distributing VFD feeds.  It must include the following:

• The distributor’s complete name and business address

• The distributor’s signature or the signature of the distributor’s authorized agent

• The date the notification was signed

This statement should be sent to:

Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine Division of Animal Feeds (HFV – 220)
7519 Standish Place
Rockville, MD  20855
Or you can fax it to: 1-240-453-6882

You also must send an acknowledgement letter to every manufacturer that provides you with medicated feed products.  The acknowledgement letter informs the manufacturers that you understand and will comply with all VFD requirements.  It can either be hard copy, or sent through e-mail, and must also affirm:

• That you will not ship such VFD feed to an animal production facility that does not have a VFD

• That you will not ship VFD feed to another distributor without receiving an acknowledgement letter

• That you have sent the FDA your distributor notification

All VFD forms will come from the veterinarian, in triplicate.  A copy for the vet’s records, a copy for your records, and a copy for producer’s records.  You must maintain records of the receipt and distribution of all medicated animal feed containing a VFD drug for a minimum of two years, as well as copies of the VFDs.  The FDA may request an inspection of these records at any time.  If you sell VFD feed to another distributor, they must send you an acknowledgment letter, and these must also be kept and available for inspection.

Producers

Most livestock owners want to know how they can keep their livestock healthy, without violating the law. First, it’s important to understand that medicated feeds will only be allowed for disease treatment, control, and prevention. If you feel you need a medicated feed, you must call your veterinarian for a VFD.

Does this mean your veterinarian has to come out to your operation every time you need a medicated feed? Not necessarily. The veterinarian can issue a VFD without seeing the specified animals if they meet the following requirements:

• Engage with the client to assume responsibility for making medical judgements about animal health and the need for medical treatment.

• Have sufficient knowledge of the animal by virtue of examination and/or visits to the facility where the animal is managed to initiate at least a general or preliminary diagnosis of the medical condition of the animals
• Provide for any necessary follow-up evaluation or care

Basically, as long as the veterinarian has a relationship with you and is familiar with your operation, they can issue VFDs without necessarily seeing the animals every time.

You then take that VFD in to your dealer to purchase the feed. You must keep all your VFD records for a minimum of two years. How much feed you purchased, how long you fed it, and to how many animals.

There are two important parts of the VFD that you must pay close attention to: the expiration and the duration.

The expiration date defines the amount of time the dealer will be allowed to sell you the medicated feed. You may continue to feed the feed up until the expiration date. However, once that expiration date passes, you must get another VFD in order to continue feeding the medicated feed.

The duration determines the length of time the VFD feed is allowed to be fed to the animals. It will be specified on the product label. For example, a five day feeding limit, with a 15 day rest period in between use (these durations may vary depending on the drug, and have not been determined, yet).

Our Commitment To Vetrinarians and VFD’s

There will be no cost to you, the veterinarian, for e- signature-only and we will cover the cost of processing the VFD through GVL for products sold by LNC. Attached is a GVL signature-only application for an account (again, you will incur no charges) that can either be sent back to LNC or GVL. If you are already a GVL member, we can receive for typical processing and communication. Our sales group is also capable and willing to assist with any antibiotic feeding level determinations for our customers’ needs.

Most of our sales focus is working with beef customers. Today, we provide blended feed and mineral to thousands of customers that are utilizing the antibiotic Chlortetracycline (CTC). Regarding CTC, we will only inventory and use Zoetis products in both our feed blends and mineral supplements (those being Aureomycin 50, ChlorMax 50, and AS 10-10). We will NOT be able to adhere to VFD’s that have other suppliers of CTC requested (example: PennChlor, Chloratet, etc.).

We will only use Aureomycin in our blends that contain our mineral/vitamin supplement pellet (Fortipel®) since we use widely in combination with lasalocid (only approved CTC/BVT combination.)

While we can and do customize CTC feeding levels for control or treatment of respiratory issues (350 mg/hd/d or 1g/100 lbs BW), we are limited to only 4,800 and 6,000 gram/ton levels in our range minerals for anaplasmosis control in 1200 and 1500 lb beef cows, respectively, and 2,800 g/ton for stockers.

We appreciate your business and look forward to assisting you through these new FDA regulations.