Antibiotic use in livestock production has welfare implications through both the treatment of illness and the risk of antibiotic resistance threatening future treatment capacity.
Livestock antibiotic stewardship sits at the intersection of individual animal welfare and public health. Antibiotics are essential for treating bacterial infections that cause suffering — withholding them from sick animals to preserve resistance is not the solution. The problem is prophylactic and metaphylactic use — dosing groups of animals to prevent disease that may or may not develop, or treating whole groups when only some are infected. This reflects an underlying management failure: animals in good welfare conditions with lower stress and appropriate immunity need antibiotics far less than those in intensive, high-stress environments. Better welfare therefore reduces antibiotic dependence, and reduced antibiotic use preserves treatment efficacy for when it is genuinely needed — a virtuous circle that benefits both individual and future animal welfare.