The UK cattle industry has made significant progress reducing antibiotic use since 2015, with welfare-positive approaches driving continued improvement.
Progress in reducing antibiotic use in UK cattle represents a welfare success because it has largely been achieved through welfare improvement rather than withholding needed treatment. Better disease prevention through vaccination, improved housing, and management has reduced disease incidence. Selective dry cow therapy replaces blanket antibiotic use at drying off while maintaining individual cow welfare. Improved diagnostic capability allows targeted antibiotic use rather than empirical broad-spectrum treatment. The antibiotic stewardship framework ensures that welfare is not compromised by stewardship requirements: sick animals requiring antibiotics should receive them. The relationship between antibiotic stewardship and welfare improvement is synergistic rather than antagonistic when implemented correctly.