Nov 4, 2021
As the current velvet season hits its peak, we have had a few instances of farmers not finding the declaration clear on the VSD in VelTrak.
The current wording is the same as that used on the previous paper VSDs, but we will make the wording of future VSDs simpler, to reduce the risk of compliant velvet being inadvertently declared as unfit for human consumption.
This change will take a while to come into effect, so in the meantime, here is a simplified explanation of what the current VSD declaration questions mean.
Question 1
This velvet has been removed, including the use of any sedation and pain relief, in accordance with the requirements of the current NVSB standard?
Plain English version – I am a certified velvetter and have removed the velvet according to NVSB requirements, or a vet has removed it for me.
Question 2
Any other animal health treatments used in the velvetted animal have been used in compliance with the requirements of the ACVM Act 1997, including any withholding periods?
Plain English version – These animals are not within the withholding period of any treatment. Either I have not given my stags any medicines before removing the velvet or if I have, then I have observed the relevant withholding period before removing the velvet. In other words, there are not any drugs in the velvet that should not be there.
Question 3
All velvet has been tagged and the cold chain management and hygiene requirements been met in accordance with MPI’s Regulated Control Scheme for Deer Velvet Harvest 2017?
Plain English version – I have passed an RCS (shed and freezer hygiene) audit and have tagged and kept the velvet clean, and in the freezer, until it left the farm.
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Please be aware that if you click ‘No’ to any of the questions on the VSD approval form, you will get a warning message saying that if you proceed then the velvet will not be eligible for human consumption. If this occurs, please click ‘Cancel’ in the warning box and double check your answers, before selecting ‘Finish’ on the VSD form. Once you have clicked ‘Finish’ on the VSD, it cannot be changed. Velvet that has been declared as non-compliant with the requirements of the VSD cannot be sold into the human food chain, so please make sure you understand the questions and accept the consequences if you decide to declare your velvet as non-compliant. |
On a separate note, please try to use tags in sequential order where possible, as this will help with the internal logic VelTrak uses to allocate tags to an agent VSD if they are missed when scanning the VSD the first time around.
Finally, a link to the current VelTrak guide for farmers can be found here: Microsoft Word - Farmer VelTrak User Guide Version 1.1.docx (deernz.org)
