Antimicrobial use in pig production intersects directly with animal welfare — disease prevention, treatment efficacy, and the ethics of prophylactic medication.
Antimicrobial resistance poses a dual welfare threat: it directly undermines the ability to treat sick animals, prolonging suffering, while simultaneously reflecting underlying welfare deficits — overcrowding, stress, and poor hygiene that necessitate prophylactic medication. Pigs in suboptimal conditions suffer higher disease burdens, which drive antibiotic dependency. Improving welfare conditions, therefore, serves as an effective antimicrobial stewardship strategy. Producers who reduce antibiotics without improving conditions risk increased animal suffering; the ethical path combines reduced medication with genuinely better husbandry standards.