Changing attitudes to antibiotic use critical for profitable, future proof herds

It is now widely accepted within the UK dairy industry that one of the key targets for future proofing production is responsible antimicrobial use.

UK agriculture has done a fantastic job of reducing antibiotic use in the last six years, refining practices, and focusing on preventing disease. There has been a 50% reduction in antibiotics sold to treat farm animals since 2014. Based on the most recently available data, we are still the lowest user of antibiotics amongst European countries with significant livestock farming and the fifth-lowest user overall, with our total usage 70% lower than the European Union average.

The dairy industry specifically has seen a 20% reduction in antibiotic use and a near total elimination of high priority critically important antibiotics (HP-CIAs), with only positive effects seen on health and welfare of herds.

Many farms provide living case studies of how making huge changes to their antimicrobial use, leads to no compromise to herd health and welfare and a better bottom line.

RUMA (responsible use of medicines in agriculture) set sector specific targets for 2020, for the dairy industry, target for overall use 2020 = 21.5mg/PCU.
We have been working on a new updated antibiotic report for our LLM herds, to breakdown what is used where and include farm

benchmarking, so you can see where your herd fits compared to the target. New RUMA targets for 2024, include better collection of antibiotic data from 95% of UK dairy herds and a 15% overall reduction in antibiotic use.

Analysing your herd’s antibiotic use, is a great way of identifying productivity pinch points on your farm and putting in place strategies to improve results in healthier, more productive cows, producing a product we can shout about! Speak to your vet for more information on the new reports.