BQA Lesson: Take Care With Shots

Charlene M. Shupp Espenshade
Special Sections Editor

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — The take-home lesson from this week's Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) training was what you do in managing beef today can impact your bottom line tomorrow.

About 40 producers gathered at the Masonic Village's beef farm on Tuesday for classroom and chute-side BQA training. The proper way to give shots so as not to damage meat was a focus of the session.

"The idea is to use as small of a needle as possible," said Dr. David Wolfgang, a Penn State veterinarian. Most of the time, a smaller needle should be used, depending on the viscosity of the compound in the shot.

The overall theme of the chute-side training is that farmers need to keep in mind that shots can react with the fat and muscle, leaving a knot or swelling the muscle tissue. The goal should be to minimize that impact.

When giving a subcutaneous shot, or one "under the skin," Wolfgang said that farmers should pull up on the skin and administer the shot perpendicularly. To make sure the medicine goes into the pocket created, the point side of the needle should be next to the muscle.

Using a Holstein calf necropsy, Wolfgang showed what can happen to muscles if a shot is administered poorly or in a prime cut of meat. He recommends that all shots should be given in the neck to avoid damaging prime cuts of meat.

On the necropsy, Wolfgang showed how a back quarter of meat was ruined because of multiple shots, which resulted in muscle swelling.

While most shots can be given subcutaneously, there are a few that require intramuscular administration. Wolfgang reminded producers that the shot site never truly goes away and a scar area can remain.

Chris Jeffcoat of the Pennsylvania Beef Council shared an experience in which his family was butchering a steer for a neighbor. The purchaser of one quarter asked for the round cut to be made into roasts. Jeffcoat said that on the outside the cut looked fine, but once they cut into it, it was full of grizzle the result of a shot. The round was ruined and unusable.

For animal health, Wolfgang said a good practice for a multiple-use medicine bottle is to keep a clean needle in the bottle stopper. Also, he recommends using a different needle and syringe for each animal.

Producers also inquired about participating in the state's Pennsylvania Preferred labeling program and for more information on the Pennsylvania Proud beef program at Weis Markets. Producers in the Weis program are earning a production bonus.

To learn more about the BQA, Pennsylvania Preferred program or the Weis Markets program, contact Chris Jeffcoat at the Pennsylvania Beef Council at (717) 939-7000.