Antibiotic Stewardship and Animal Welfare on Farms

The responsible use of antibiotics in animal farming is essential both for human health — preventing antimicrobial resistance — and for animal welfare. Understanding the relationship between antibiotic stewardship and farm animal wellbeing helps resolve apparent conflicts between the two goals.

Key Facts

Approximately 70% of global antibiotic consumption occurs in animal agriculture
Prophylactic antibiotic use in feed — using antibiotics to prevent disease in healthy animals — has been banned in the EU since 2006
The WHO has classified several antibiotics as critically important for human medicine, restricting their use in animals
Farms with high antibiotic use typically have poor underlying health management — antibiotic reduction requires health improvement
Denmark reduced veterinary antibiotic use by 50% between 2009 and 2019 while improving animal health indicators
Farms that reduce antibiotic use through improved biosecurity and management see welfare improvements alongside AMR reduction
Antibiotic use as a substitute for good welfare is increasingly unacceptable in regulatory and market contexts

Welfare Considerations

The relationship between antibiotic stewardship and animal welfare is not inherently conflicting. Farms that rely on antibiotics to manage preventable disease are substituting medication for welfare investments — better housing, nutrition, biosecurity, and stockmanship — that would reduce disease incidence at its source. Reducing antibiotic use without improving underlying welfare causes suffering as diseases go untreated. The ethical imperative is to treat sick animals while reducing prophylactic use through health improvement rather than simple drug withdrawal. Certification schemes that require both low antibiotic use AND good welfare outcome indicators — not just one or the other — represent the most coherent approach to aligning animal welfare and public health goals.

What You Can Do

Support certification schemes that require both low antibiotic use AND strong welfare outcome indicators
Advocate for prohibition of prophylactic antibiotic use in all farming systems globally
Choose animal products from producers who demonstrate health improvement rather than simple antibiotic withdrawal
Raise awareness that antibiotic stewardship and animal welfare are complementary goals when approached systematically