Reducing antibiotic use in animal agriculture improves both animal welfare and public health, making stewardship a dual welfare and pandemic prevention priority.
Antibiotic stewardship and animal welfare improvement are mutually reinforcing goals rather than competing priorities. Farms that improve welfare through better housing, nutrition, and management typically need fewer antibiotics because healthier, less stressed animals are more disease-resistant. The EU's ban on routine preventive antibiotic use has driven welfare improvements in some sectors as farmers address the underlying welfare problems that antibiotics were masking. Critically, the rise of antimicrobial resistance threatens the ability to treat pain and infection in animals - welfare-relevant conditions that could become untreatable if resistance reduces effective antibiotic options.