Antibiotic stewardship in cattle farming requires reducing unnecessary antibiotic use while maintaining the welfare of individual sick animals. The goal is to prevent disease through management rather than treat it with antibiotics.
Antibiotic stewardship and animal welfare are complementary rather than conflicting goals when properly understood. The appropriate use of antibiotics to treat sick animals is both a welfare imperative and a stewardship requirement - withholding necessary treatment is not good stewardship. The stewardship goal is to reduce unnecessary and preventive use by improving the management conditions that make antibiotic use necessary. Farms that achieve good health through welfare-positive management both use fewer antibiotics and have lower disease welfare costs - demonstrating that welfare and stewardship goals align.