The relationship between farm animal welfare and antibiotic use is bidirectional — poor welfare conditions increase disease requiring treatment, while responsible antibiotic stewardship requires welfare improvements that reduce the need for antibiotics.
Antibiotic stewardship and animal welfare are fundamentally connected rather than separate concerns. Systems that rely on antibiotics for disease prevention are typically systems where disease pressure is driven by welfare-compromising conditions: too many animals in too little space with too little enrichment, ventilation, or biosecurity. Reducing antibiotic use without improving the conditions that drive disease leads to increased animal suffering from untreated illness. Genuinely responsible antibiotic stewardship therefore requires welfare improvement as its foundation — it is not possible to responsibly reduce prophylactic antibiotic use while maintaining the management conditions that make prophylaxis necessary. The health of human populations and the welfare of farm animals are linked through the same pathway: reducing disease pressure through good welfare reduces both animal suffering and antibiotic resistance generation.