Reducing antibiotic use in farming requires better animal welfare and management — the relationship between welfare and antibiotic need is bidirectional and essential to understand.
Antibiotic stewardship and animal welfare are deeply connected — animals in poor welfare conditions are more susceptible to infection and require more antibiotic treatment. The most effective approach to reducing farm antibiotic use is improving the conditions that drive disease: reducing stocking densities, improving air quality, providing enrichment that reduces stress, and strengthening biosecurity. Countries and farms that have achieved dramatic antibiotic reductions have done so primarily through welfare improvements rather than through restrictions on antibiotic access alone. This means that supporting higher-welfare farming directly contributes to reducing one of the most significant global public health threats from agriculture.