Have you ever sat down and calculated the amount you spend annually on antibiotics for your cows? While this may seem like an intensive process, continuous use can add up to be a larger dent in your pocketbook than you realize. In a Buckeye Dairy News article, Samantha Locke, Greg Habing, and Rafael Portillo-Gonzalez identified ways to improve practices for reduced use of antibiotics at the farm level.
Although we use antibiotics to help cure bacterial infections such as metritis, diarrhea, mastitis, lameness, and respiratory diseases, overuse can result in resistance to treatment. Antimicrobial resistance happens as bacteria survive antimicrobial treatment, making infections more difficult to control moving forward. To mitigate the occurrence of disease resistance, managing infections properly and in a timely fashion will help prevent the risk of resistant infections, protect animal welfare, and can improve treatment outcomes.
Begin by monitoring disease incidences and keeping accurate records of each time an incident occurs. “Disease incidence indicates how frequently health issues occur, while antibiotic use metrics to reveal how antimicrobials are used in response. Together, these measures help identify patterns such as overuse or undertreatment, enabling more informed management decisions,” the researchers said. Be sure to keep an accurate record of treatment name, dosage, route of administration, withholding period, reason for use, and number of animals treated.
To help lower the number of antimicrobial treatments used on the farm, disease incidence needs to be reduced. “This can be achieved through appropriate nutrition, vaccination, improved biosecurity, and early disease detection which helps prevent outbreaks and reduce the need for antimicrobial treatments,” Locke, Habing, and Portillo-Gonzalez noted. Consult with your veterinarian and form protocols for antimicrobial uses, focusing on cows that are only likely to benefit from the treatment.
Lastly, ensure that employees are trained properly on treatment administration and disease detection. Overtreating ultimately wastes not only the employee’s time, but also your money. “By tracking antibiotic use, farmers can make data driven decisions to improve animal health, reduce the need for antimicrobials over time and contribute to the global fight against antibiotic resistance,” the authors encouraged.
