Antibiotic Use in Livestock and Animal Welfare: Connected Crises

The overuse of antibiotics in livestock production contributes to antimicrobial resistance while often masking underlying welfare problems that proper housing and management would address.

Key Facts

Approximately 73% of global antibiotic use occurs in food animal production — with a significant proportion used for growth promotion and disease prevention in intensive systems rather than therapeutic treatment
The World Health Organization has identified antimicrobial resistance as one of the greatest global health threats, and livestock antibiotic use is a major driver of resistant bacteria affecting both animal and human medicine
Prophylactic antibiotic use — giving antibiotics to prevent disease in large groups rather than treating sick individuals — is particularly associated with intensive production systems where crowding and stress would otherwise produce high disease rates
Denmark banned prophylactic antibiotic use in livestock in the 1990s and achieved significant reductions in antibiotic use without corresponding declines in animal health or production — demonstrating that the welfare problems antibiotics mask can be addressed through better management
Animals in intensive systems often receive antibiotics specifically because their living conditions create disease pressure that would otherwise be welfare-compromising: respiratory disease in crowded pig barns, enteric disease in stressed calves, foot infections in sheep with poor pasture management
The EU banned the use of antibiotics for growth promotion in 2006 and banned prophylactic group antibiotic treatments in 2022 — creating a regulatory framework that reduces antibiotic use while incentivizing welfare-improving management changes
Antibiotic resistance in bacteria affecting animals — particularly in companion animals — means that pets are also affected by the broader resistance crisis driven by livestock use

Welfare Considerations

Antibiotic overuse in livestock is both a public health crisis and a welfare symptom. The underlying welfare reality is that intensive livestock systems often require antibiotic support to maintain animal health — not because antibiotics are the appropriate solution, but because the housing conditions create disease pressure that antibiotics temporarily address without solving. Reducing antibiotic use in livestock therefore requires improving the conditions that create disease pressure: better housing, lower stocking densities, stress reduction, improved nutrition, and better biosecurity. Countries that have successfully reduced livestock antibiotic use demonstrate that this transition is achievable with appropriate policy support and farm management investment. The welfare benefit of reduced antibiotic use accrues indirectly — through improvements in housing and management that reduce the need for antibiotics — and directly, through extending the effectiveness of antibiotics for genuine therapeutic use in sick animals.

What You Can Do

Support policy reforms requiring veterinary prescription for all antibiotic use in livestock and banning prophylactic group treatments
Choose animal products from certified operations that publish antibiotic use data and have committed to antibiotic-free or reduced-use production
Support your national veterinary association advocacy for responsible antibiotic stewardship in both livestock and companion animal medicine
Engage with supermarkets on their supply chain antibiotic use policies — major retailers have leverage to require suppliers to reduce antibiotic use
Follow the work of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics and similar coalitions working on livestock antibiotic policy reform