High antimicrobial use in livestock is driven partly by welfare failures. Improving housing, management, and health monitoring reduces antibiotic need and improves animal welfare simultaneously.
The overuse of antibiotics in livestock farming is both a human health crisis and a welfare indicator. Animals in poor health require antibiotics to survive conditions created by overcrowding, stress, inadequate ventilation, and insufficient space. The high disease burden in intensive systems is itself a welfare problem. Reducing antibiotic use requires improving conditions so that animals are healthy enough not to need preventive medication. This virtuous cycle — better welfare leading to less antibiotic dependence — has been demonstrated in the Netherlands and other countries that have implemented farm welfare reforms alongside antibiotic stewardship programs.