Antimicrobial Resistance from Livestock Farming and Animal Welfare

The overuse of antibiotics in livestock farming drives antimicrobial resistance with serious consequences for human and animal health, and the welfare conditions that necessitate antibiotic use form a vicious cycle.

Key Facts

Agriculture accounts for approximately 70 percent of global antibiotic use, with much of this used for growth promotion rather than disease treatment
The EU banned antibiotic use for growth promotion in 2006, leading to measurable reductions in resistant bacteria on farms and in food
Intensive livestock conditions that cause stress and disease create demand for antibiotics, while antibiotic use sustains intensive conditions that would otherwise be unsustainable
Colistin, a last-resort antibiotic for human medicine, is used extensively in livestock in some countries despite WHO guidance against this
Welfare improvements that reduce crowding, improve hygiene, and reduce stress reliably reduce antibiotic dependency in farm systems

Welfare Considerations

The welfare and antibiotic resistance dimensions of livestock farming are deeply connected. Intensive conditions that cause stress and disease create the demand for preventive and therapeutic antibiotic use. Antibiotic use in turn enables the continuation of welfare-compromising conditions that would cause unacceptable disease levels without chemical support. This cycle can be broken from either end: improving welfare reduces antibiotic need, and restricting antibiotic availability forces welfare improvements. Countries that have successfully reduced agricultural antibiotic use, including Denmark and the Netherlands, achieved this through a combination of regulatory restriction and welfare improvements that reduced the disease burden requiring treatment.

What You Can Do

Choose meat from farms certified to have low antibiotic use, such as RSPCA Assured or equivalent schemes
Ask supermarkets and food companies about their antibiotic stewardship policies and supplier requirements
Support regulatory bans on preventive group antibiotic treatment and growth promotion use in livestock
Advocate for transparency in antibiotic use data from food producers as a condition of retail contracts
Reduce consumption of intensively produced meat to reduce demand for production systems dependent on antibiotic use