The VCPR Process and Forms

In the DBP model, a valid VCPR is necessary for a veterinarian to prescribe drugs for a client dairy. VCPR’s are formed with a dairy for specific areas of management on the farm. Using Best Practices guidelines, four specific management areas have been identified on the farm: mastitis, reproduction, clinical disease, and youngstock. A veterinarian could have valid VCPR’s for a farm in all of these areas or only specific areas. A valid VCPR is necessary for each area of the farm that a veterinarian wishes to prescribe drugs. For example, a veterinarian with only a mastitis VCPR for a farm could prescribe mastitis tubes; however, she/he could not prescribe a prostaglandin product for the dairy’s reproductive program.

Data collection forms have been created to help the practitioner gather information from the dairy producer that is necessary for writing drug prescriptions. Each herd with a VCPR in any area is required to complete the basic Herd Information Form. An additional form has been developed for each of the four specific areas of dairy management. These forms have been tested on pilot dairies and typically take about 1 hour to complete.

Adobe Reader is required to view the forms. To download and install Adobe Reader, visit www.adobe.com/reader. To launch the forms directly within the browser, click on the link to the right. To save the form to your hard drive for later use, right-click on the link and choose "Save Target as".

Under Best Practices guidelines, the VCPR process needs to be repeated every 6 months with a dairy. This recommendation was considered to be frequent enough to ensure that the veterinarian has sufficient knowledge of herd practices and health to make quality decisions when prescribing drugs. The 6 month recommendation is also considered reasonable to be practically accomplished by practitioners in private practice.

It is very important to note that the DBP recommended process is only one way to achieve a valid VCPR with a dairy. It is certainly not the only way. The guidelines were created to assist private practitioners by providing a consistent process for establishing VCPR’s with client dairies. However, DBP recognizes that many other methods for establishing valid VCPR’s exist.