Antibiotic Stewardship in Animal Agriculture and Welfare

Reducing antibiotic use in animal agriculture protects human and animal health, but must be accompanied by welfare improvements that prevent the conditions requiring antibiotics.

Key Facts

Approximately 70% of global antibiotic use occurs in animal agriculture, with much used preventively in poor welfare conditions.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is projected to cause 10 million human deaths annually by 2050 without intervention.
EU regulations banned prophylactic antibiotic use from 2022; the UK has also strengthened stewardship requirements.
Reducing antibiotic use without improving welfare conditions risks increased animal disease burden and suffering.
Denmark reduced total antibiotic use in pigs by 60% over 20 years while maintaining production levels through welfare improvements.
Vaccination programmes can substitute for antibiotic use and provide welfare benefits by preventing disease.
Metaphylactic treatment (treating groups when disease is detected in some individuals) remains permitted and raises welfare questions.
Welfare-positive housing — better ventilation, less crowding, enrichment — reduces disease incidence and antibiotic demand.

Welfare Considerations

Antibiotic stewardship and animal welfare are deeply linked. Antibiotics have historically compensated for welfare-hostile production conditions — overcrowded, poorly ventilated, enrichment-deprived — by suppressing disease that would otherwise devastate populations. Reducing antibiotic use without addressing the underlying welfare conditions that drive disease is not stewardship — it is neglect. Denmark's example shows that the two goals are compatible: investing in welfare reduces disease pressure, reducing antibiotic dependence. The welfare case is thus central to the AMR case, not separate from it.

What You Can Do

Choose meat and dairy products from farms with documented low antibiotic use and high welfare standards.
Support policy requiring welfare improvements alongside antibiotic reduction targets.
Ask food companies about their antibiotic reduction timelines and associated welfare investments.
Support vaccination programme development as alternatives to antibiotic use in animal agriculture.
Advocate for transparent antibiotic use reporting linked to farm welfare assessments.