The relationship between antibiotic use in farm animals, animal welfare, and the growing global crisis of antimicrobial resistance.
The relationship between antibiotic use and animal welfare is complex: antibiotics used therapeutically on sick animals are a welfare benefit, but routine prophylactic use to compensate for poor housing is a welfare failure masked by pharmacological intervention. Reducing antibiotic use in livestock farming is a public health priority, but it must be paired with simultaneous welfare improvements — better housing, lower stocking density, improved hygiene, and vaccination programs — to ensure that antibiotic reduction does not simply result in more animals suffering from untreated disease. The goal is systems where animals are healthy enough not to need routine antibiotics, not systems where sick animals go untreated.