Antibiotics in livestock have reduced animal suffering from bacterial disease but also drive antimicrobial resistance. Balancing welfare and public health requires nuanced policy.
The livestock antibiotic debate has genuine welfare tensions on both sides. Denying appropriate antibiotic treatment to sick farm animals causes direct and serious animal suffering - bacterial infections like pneumonia, mastitis, and foot rot cause intense pain that antibiotics rapidly relieve. Policies that restrict antibiotic use for welfare reasons without simultaneously improving disease prevention through management and vaccination may shift suffering from treated disease to untreated disease. Conversely, routine prophylactic antibiotic use in intensive systems represents using drugs to compensate for welfare-compromising management conditions - a relationship where better welfare and reduced antibiotic use are achievable simultaneously through system improvement.