Inspector Nadine and supervisor Ludivine take us to the cattle farm of the young couple Sofie and Jean, in a small village in Liège. We receive a friendly welcome there. Before we start checking the yard, animals and paperwork, we hoist ourselves into some blue overalls and put on different shoes. We definitely don't want to bring any diseases into the stables."
We begin by checking the animals and stalls. Hundreds of cows stand or lie neatly in a row. It is quiet in the stable. In the background, some music is playing. Our supervisors check whether the animals that were declared by the farmer in the database are actually in the stable. To do so, the ear tags are carefully checked.
At the same time, our supervisors check whether the hygiene in the stables is satisfactory and the health and welfare of the animals is guaranteed. "If we should find that the animals are not being treated properly, we immediately call in our colleagues from the Animal Welfare Department of the Walloon Region. Fortunately, this does not happen very often." Here too, it is certainly not necessary. The cows look healthy and well.
The next checkpoint is the pastures where the animals graze and roam, and the fields where the farmers grow their crops. "We try to be as self-sufficient as possible. We grow our own wheat and make straw from it. We sell the grain. We grow corn, fodder beets and four times a year, we mow grass clover."
After checking up on the walking pastures, we head together to the room where the milking robots hang and the milk container is located. The milking robots help with milking. The vacuum pumps are placed on the teats of the udder and they then take care of milking the cow. The milk automatically enters the milk container, which is emptied every two days by the company purchasing the milk. A milk sample is taken from each delivery and sent to the lab to check for traces of animal drugs or the presence of harmful organisms. In Belgium, milk is constantly monitored.
The milk room also contains the medicine cabinet. Only veterinarians may administer drugs, unless the vet has entered into an agreement with the livestock farmer and thoroughly briefed them on the proper use of the drug. Nadine opens the medicine cabinet. On each box, the name of the veterinarian who authorised the use of that drug is listed. All that information is meticulously written down and checked, so we are one hundred percent sure that the drugs administered will not affect the safety of the milk and meat. Smooth collaboration between livestock farmer and veterinarian is crucial. The conventions between veterinarians and livestock farmer are also being reviewed by the Food Agency.
The next stop is to check all the papers. Jean and Sofie pull out some thick folders of papers. These contain animal inventories, all the records of drugs, feeds such as concentrate and products used on the farm, analysis reports including water analyses, veterinary agreements, visit reports and many other documents… "It's a lot," agrees Nadine, "fortunately a lot of work can be done digitally now, too."
"On this cattle farm, everything is tip-top." After an inspection that usually lasts three to four hours, Nadine and Ludivine print out the inspection report, which is signed by everyone. "Haha," Sofie and Jean respond with relief after their positive result, "a check-up like this is always a bit stressful anyway." "Haha," can also be heard from Nadine and Ludivine. "Doing a check-up is tough, but important work. After all these years working at the Food Agency, we still do it with a great deal of passion."