Antibiotic use for livestock in the UK is improving

The Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture (RUMA) reported that it is too soon in the four-year targets cycle for precise and valid statistics to be released. However, the first year has been labelled as having ‘good’ progress.

Usage of ruminant sectors (beef, dairy, calves and sheep) is mainly unknown because there isn’t enough data to make a comment. The focus here is to fully comprehend the use of antibiotics and increase survey analysis for farms, increasing the level of interaction between the farmer, the vet and health plan development.

There is clear positive progress being made in the pig and gamebird sectors, with future aims to minimise antibiotic use by 30% for pigs and 40% for game birds. The sectors that have managed to accomplish their targeted level are salmon, poultry, and trout. The next step is to be able to continue this over time.

RUMA’s chair, Cat McLaughlin, said “Despite an exceptional 12 months, there have been some great achievements realised in year one of the second set of RUMA Targets Task Force targets, which is testament to the hard-work and commitment across all sectors. Events of the past year have undoubtedly affected the industry in many ways, but producers, vets, and wider industry have continued to manage with the utmost professionalism and commitment to the responsible use of antibiotics through this challenging time.”

“It is important to remember that the targets are not about driving towards zero antibiotic use; antibiotics are needed when necessary, as a tool to treat sick animals and to improve and maintain animal welfare. Each sector will ultimately reach a sustainable level below which further reductions could negatively impact animal welfare. For now, efforts to maintain or continue reductions across most sectors are delivering good results, but it is to be expected that usage is beginning to level out or even bounce back a small amount in some cases where sustainable use has been achieved.”

According to the VMD (Veterinary Medicines Directorate), there was a decline of over 50% in antibiotic use for livestock between 2014 and 2020. That makes the UK one of the smallest antibiotic users in all of Europe.