Responsible antimicrobial use in livestock is both an animal welfare imperative and a public health priority, requiring careful stewardship that preserves drug efficacy.
Antimicrobial stewardship in livestock sits at the intersection of animal welfare and public health: overuse drives resistance that threatens human medicine, yet restricting access can leave sick animals untreated. The welfare-compatible stewardship position is that antimicrobials should be used only when necessary for sick animals, replaced by prevention — through vaccination, good husbandry, biosecurity, and welfare improvements — where possible, and that the sick animal right to treatment must be preserved within stewardship frameworks. Farms with good welfare typically use fewer antimicrobials because healthy, well-managed animals experience less disease. This alignment between welfare and stewardship creates a powerful argument for welfare improvement as an antimicrobial resistance intervention.