When it comes to animal care, farmers rely not only on their instinct to understand the best ways to care for their animals, they also rely on their veterinarians and best management practices that set the standards for how a farm operates.

The Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) Plus and Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) programs help farmers continually improve in their animal-raising efforts. A newer version of the PQA Plus program, set to be released early this summer, builds on previous versions and expands on new scientific research.

Within the programs, farmers explore proper practices and protocols based on areas of farm safety, food safety, animal well-being, environmental protection and worker safety. The program not only helps farmers understand the best way...