Welfare Science

Animal Welfare and Antibiotic Resistance

The connection between animal welfare and antibiotic resistance creates alignment between human health and animal welfare goals.

Key Facts

Prophylactic antibiotic use in livestock drives antimicrobial resistance globally
Higher welfare conditions reduce disease risk and antibiotic need
Farms with better welfare have 70-90% lower antibiotic use in some studies
One Health approaches link animal, human, and environmental antibiotic stewardship

Welfare Considerations

Antibiotic resistance and animal welfare are connected through the same root causes. Crowded, stressful livestock conditions increase disease susceptibility and antibiotic use. Better welfare — more space, lower stress, better nutrition — reduces disease and antibiotic dependency. This alignment makes improving livestock welfare a public health intervention as well as an animal welfare improvement.

What You Can Do

Support livestock welfare improvements as a public health as well as animal welfare measure
Choose meat and dairy from antibiotic-stewardship certified farms
Advocate for linking antibiotic reduction targets to welfare improvement requirements
Support One Health policy frameworks that address livestock welfare and antibiotic use together