DAIRY
Dairy From The Heart
ABOUT
Our Validus Verification division holds the honor of being the first company to focus on objective, scored auditing for animal welfare. Validus, founded by Earl Dotson in 1995 and purchased by Where Food Comes From in 2013, is a recognized leader in animal welfare auditing in the dairy industry, and its programs are regarded as the gold standard today. The expanded Validus Verification Certification Programs for the Dairy Industry have three core areas—Animal Welfare Review, Environmental Review, and Worker Care Review—and a dairy achieving certification in all three areas earn use of the “CARE Certified” logo.
Validus’ extensive and acclaimed experience in the dairy industry gives CARE Certified the solid foundation necessary to help build long-term sustainability programs throughout the dairy industry. CARE Certified requires the very three pillars of caring for the animals, the environment, and people that Validus first understood many years ago.
26,860
CARE Certified Dairy Animals
CARE PILLARS
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
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Proper animal handling and management
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Herd health procedures and care
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Food and water quality standards
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Housing that promotes animal comfort and cleanliness
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On-farm security procedures
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Proper care of special needs animals
PEOPLE & COMMUNITY
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General site management and conditions
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Livestock living and production areas
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Outdoor manure and storm water storage
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Manure use and land application
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Animal mortality management
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Waste water plans, treatments and controls
ANIMAL CARE
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Federal and state labor laws
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Employee/worker health and safety requirements
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Transportation requirements
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Non-discrimination practices
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Employee wages and benefits
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Employee records
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Applicable housing provisions
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On-site working condition observations
McCarty Family Farms
As we at McCarty Family Farms have worked toward improving our farms, our teams and ourselves, we have sought out groups that can help us in that journey and the Where Food Comes From team has done just that. Through the implementation of the CARE program we have continuously improved the wellbeing of our dairy cattle, our team members, our environment and our business. Being good stewards is our responsibility to the world and CARE helps us achieve that.
