Reducing antibiotic use in livestock is essential to combat antimicrobial resistance — but welfare must not be sacrificed. Good stewardship means treating sick animals while preventing disease through better husbandry.
Antibiotic stewardship and animal welfare are often framed as conflicting goals, but they are fundamentally complementary when approached correctly. The key ethical principle is that sick animals must be treated — withholding antibiotics from animals that need them to avoid resistance data is a welfare failure. The goal of stewardship is to reduce the need for antibiotics by keeping animals healthy through better conditions, not to reduce use by allowing suffering. Countries that have reduced antibiotic use most successfully have done so by improving herd and flock health through better housing, nutrition, genetics, vaccination, and biosecurity. This approach simultaneously improves welfare, reduces drug use, and often increases productivity — a genuine win for animals, farmers, and public health.