Antibiotic use in livestock production has complex welfare implications — preventing suffering from bacterial disease while contributing to resistance that threatens future treatment effectiveness.
Antibiotic welfare trade-offs require nuanced thinking. Used therapeutically, antibiotics prevent and treat painful bacterial diseases — withholding them when needed causes genuine welfare harm. Used prophylactically at sub-therapeutic doses, they mask welfare problems rather than addressing them. The resistance crisis they contribute to threatens the future ability to treat animal disease — a long-term welfare catastrophe in the making. The welfare-consistent approach supports therapeutic use with clear veterinary oversight, eliminates sub-therapeutic prophylactic use, and addresses root causes of disease through improved housing and management rather than relying on antibiotic suppression.