Veterinary herd health and production management (HHPM) programmes for dairy farms have been developed in Europe over the past two decades, starting off with herd fertility schemes in the 70's and developing into integrated multidisciplinary management support programmes in the 80's (Esslemont, 1975; de Kruif, 1975; Brand et at., 1996). The latter were largely focussed on the reduction of operational costs and/or an increase in farm productivity in order to optimize farm income. Since diseases, such as mastitis and lameness, and reproductive disorders, such as failure to conceive, cause economic losses on the one hand, and the basis for optimizing farm profits is in health care and through adequate nutrition and production monitoring on the other hand, these were in particular the areas where the veterinary HHPM-consultant became active. Such activities have proven to be economically profitable for the average dairy farmer (Sol et al., 1984). In recent years, attitudes of the general public have had an increasing impact on the animal production sectors. The first element regards food safety issues and public health in general exacerbated by several disasters such as those caused by S. enteritidis, E.coli O(157)H(7) and BSE. The general public, as represented by the consumer and public opinion - or rather the large retailers requires high-quality food products of animal origin. Quality, moreover, is then defined in its broadest sense: it refers not only to the products but also to the production methods applied on the farm. Issues such as animal welfare and environmental aspects then become important. In The Netherlands, dairy farms have had to participate in a dairy quality assurance programme (KKM) on a compulsory basis since January 1st 2000. This quality assurance programme consists of 6 modules: antimicrobial medicine use, cleaning and disinfection, health and welfare, milk harvesting and storage, environmental issues, and feed and water management. Practising veterinarians, too, have to comply with the regulations set by this programme in order to gain access to these farms. The question can be raised whether the veterinarian has a further role to play in this context (if any), and if so, how this role should be played. In this contribution, the emphasis is on integrating a conventional HHPM with a quality control concept, in order to provide the veterinary dairy practitioner with the tools to play a role as veterinary quality consultant.
