Responsible antibiotic use in cattle farming requires balancing the welfare imperative to treat sick animals with the public health necessity to reduce antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic stewardship creates a genuine welfare tension when poorly managed. Withholding antibiotics from sick cattle to meet usage targets is a welfare failure. The goal is to reduce antibiotic use by improving health management to reduce disease incidence, not by undertreating the sick. Metaphylaxis — treating all animals in a group when a proportion are sick — reduces individual animal suffering when disease is highly contagious and early treatment significantly improves outcomes. The welfare-compatible approach to antibiotic stewardship is investment in the management, housing, nutrition, and biosecurity improvements that reduce disease incidence, rather than rationing treatment for animals that genuinely need it.