Routine antibiotic use in intensive animal farming raises welfare and public health concerns; reducing use requires improving underlying welfare conditions.
Intensive farming conditions that compromise animal welfare simultaneously create the disease pressure requiring prophylactic antibiotic use. Improving welfare — reducing crowding, improving nutrition, providing enrichment — reduces disease incidence and antibiotic requirements. Welfare improvement and antibiotic stewardship are therefore complementary rather than competing goals. Higher welfare systems typically use fewer antibiotics.