Reducing antibiotic use in livestock farming requires welfare improvements that address disease drivers, aligning animal welfare and public health objectives.
Antibiotic resistance and animal welfare are aligned problems with aligned solutions. The diseases that drive antibiotic use in livestock — respiratory infections, enteric disease, mastitis — reflect underlying welfare compromises: overcrowding, poor ventilation, inadequate nutrition, and early weaning stress. Improving welfare conditions reduces disease incidence and therefore antibiotic need. This alignment means that welfare investment simultaneously addresses the public health problem of resistance. The countries that have achieved the greatest antibiotic reductions — Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands — have done so primarily through welfare-positive management changes rather than simply restricting antibiotic access.