Cattle Welfare and Antibiotic Stewardship: Reducing Preventive Use

Reducing routine preventive antibiotic use in cattle is both a public health imperative and an opportunity to improve genuine welfare through better husbandry.

Key Facts

UK cattle antibiotic use has fallen significantly since 2015 under RUMA targets
Dry cow therapy with blanket antibiotic cover is being replaced by selective dry cow therapy
Metaphylactic antibiotic use to prevent respiratory disease in high-risk calves is under review
Reducing antibiotic use requires investment in housing, nutrition, and biosecurity
Antimicrobial resistance is a global health threat linked to agricultural antibiotic use

Welfare Considerations

Antibiotic stewardship and animal welfare are complementary objectives when reduced antibiotic reliance is accompanied by genuine welfare improvement. Blanket prophylactic use masks underlying management problems. Removing routine antibiotics without welfare improvements causes disease outbreaks and more suffering. The welfare-positive path involves investing in prevention through housing, nutrition, biosecurity, and vaccination so that antibiotics are reserved for necessary therapeutic use.

What You Can Do

Support dairy farmers transitioning to selective dry cow therapy with welfare protocols
Advocate for investment in housing and nutrition as antibiotic reduction strategies
Back veterinary-farmer partnerships to reduce antibiotic use through welfare improvement
Encourage transparent antibiotic use reporting on farm assurance schemes
Choose dairy and beef from farms with certified responsible antibiotic use