New Information and Member Support from AABP

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to create challenges for the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) to provide continuing education for cattle veterinarians, including with its Recent Graduate and Annual Conference.

“The board supported offering a hybrid format to give attendees a choice of in-person or virtual attendance to provide this member benefit,” says Dr. Fred Gingrich, AABP executive director.

After shifting the 2020 annual conference to virtual, AABP was able to hold the 2021 annual conference in-person and virtual in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“One of the biggest outcomes of the Covid pandemic has been the amount of isolation people have experienced due to lockdowns and restrictions on travel,” explains Dr. Pat Gorden, AABP president.

“Even back to 2020, the AABP board of directors felt that providing our CE meetings in person would help our members deal with the effects of this isolation. Based on the registrations for the Recent Graduate Conference, our young members are very excited about the ability to finally gather in person,” he adds.

AABP also continues to offer other methods of disseminating information including webinars and the Have You Herd? podcast which has proven invaluable during these challenging times for its members and organization. As of January 2022, AABP has produced almost 90 podcast episodes and has had roughly 73,000 downloads.

In combination with its monthly newsletter, weekly Have You Herd? e-newsletter, and active Facebook page, AABP strives to keep members informed about the organization and the livestock and veterinary industries at large.

New Vaccination Guidelines
In 2021, AABP’s Committee on Pharmaceuticals and Biologics (CPBI) developed vaccination guidelines for its members to utilize when designing client vaccination protocols. The 32-page set of guidelines includes principles of vaccination, influence of management on disease, vaccine label information, vaccine categories, adverse events, vaccine storage and handling, core vaccines, risk-based vaccination and references.

“The CPBI developed these guidelines to provide AABP members with a baseline document on vaccine science and information for beef and dairy cattle,” explains Dr. Justin Kieffer, CPBI chairman.

“To our knowledge, we are the first food animal veterinary group to develop official vaccination guidelines for our membership. We felt it was critical to outline answers to vaccine-related questions frequently asked by bovine practitioners in a readily available format, based upon the available science. It was also important to point out the gaps in knowledge on vaccine issues and to list references for the material we included.”

AABP members can access the guidelines by logging onto the AABP website. Under the Committees tab, click on Committee Resources, then Pharmaceuticals and Biologics and scroll to the Vaccination Guidelines. An AABP Have You Herd? podcast on the new Vaccination Guidelines is publicly available at bit.ly/3qUBioW.

DEI and Mental Health Initiatives
In 2021, the AABP board of directors authorized the creation of two new tasks forces: the Mental Health Task Force and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force.

Veterinarians, like many other health care professionals, have a suicide rate roughly double that of the general population. With this sobering fact in mind, the AABP appointed a Mental Health Task Force to address this issue within its membership ranks.

“To date, the task force has recommended that a virtual mental health support group be formed to allow AABP members to meet with other bovine practitioners and discuss mutual stresses and concerns,” reports Dr. Charles Gardner, task force chairman.

AABP members can join by contacting jptanguay@fhsu.edu. The Task Force is also creating a survey that will be distributed to AABP members. Association leadership hopes to learn more about the incidence of mental health issues in the membership, and what resources will be most helpful.

The AABP DEI Task Force will continue to provide organizational direction to ensure that all cattle veterinarians are welcomed and included in AABP, Gingrich adds.

Guidelines andPosition Statements
The AABP board of directors approves guidelines and position statements which serve as resources for members, producers and advocacy with other organizations, federal and state legislative bodies, and regulatory agencies.

Every three to five years, guidelines and position statements are opened for review to ensure they are consistent with other AABP policies and current scientific research. Prior to being reviewed by relevant committees, an open call to the membership for comment and feedback occurs, and the committees create a recommendation to the board of directors for either rescinding, reaffirming or revising the document.

Two documents that were opened for member comment are the Raised Without Antibiotics position statement and the Key Elements for Implementing Antimicrobial Stewardship Plans in Bovine Veterinary Practices Working with Beef and Dairy Operations guidelines.

Documents updated in 2021 are the Principles of Animal Welfare guidelines and the Tail Docking position statement.
These documents are publicly available for viewing at aabp.org/about/Guidelines_PositionStatements.asp.