Responsible antibiotic use in livestock and animal welfare are closely linked. Overuse of antibiotics masks welfare problems, drives antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and creates future welfare risks when antibiotics fail. Conversely, improving animal welfare reduces the need for antibiotics by preventing the disease states that necessitate them.
Antibiotic use in livestock has been recognised as a significant contributor to the global AMR crisis. The One Health framework explicitly links animal, human, and environmental health. When resistance develops to antibiotics used to treat bacterial diseases in animals, those same drugs become less effective for treating human infections. For animal welfare, AMR means that diseases that once responded to treatment become more difficult to treat, creating more severe and prolonged suffering.
The most effective antibiotic stewardship strategy is disease prevention through good animal welfare. Animals kept in high-welfare systems with appropriate stocking density, good nutrition, clean housing, social stability, and low stress show better immune function and lower disease incidence. This reduces antibiotic demand at its source rather than rationing treatment after disease occurs.
UK livestock antibiotic use has fallen dramatically — over 50% reduction between 2014 and 2022 — driven by the RUMA Targets Task Force and industry leadership. The UK is now among the lowest users in Europe for many livestock sectors. This progress has been achieved without compromising welfare through improvement in biosecurity, vaccination programmes, and management practices.
There is a genuine tension between minimising antibiotic use and treating animal suffering promptly. Withholding antibiotics from a sick animal to meet reduction targets causes welfare harm. Good stewardship requires treating sick animals appropriately while improving prevention to reduce overall demand — not rationing treatment to meet targets.