Antibiotics use in ag

Antibiotics use in animal agriculture has received increased media attention. Some sources call for less use in livestock, but solving resistance problems in both humans and animals isn’t that simple. In this report from the National Institute for Animal Agriculture and Merck Animal Health, Veterinarian Bob Smith helps to define the issue for beef producers. “Throughout the years in human and animal medicine we have assumed that we can continue to use antibiotics as we always have and that they will always be there and always will be effective for us.”

Not so, says Dr. Bob Smith, longtime beef veterinarian, professor and speaker. Rather, the future of effective antibiotics isn’t certain for humans nor animals. Doctors and veterinarians are seeing resistance issues surface with increasing frequency. “We have started seeing more and more cases where the bacteria were resistant to the antibiotics that we were using. We are now trying to learn more about antibiotic resistance, how it develops and also what we can do to use fewer antibiotics.”