Animal Care : Use of Antibiotics in Livestock Production

To produce high-quality livestock there must be high-quality care, which is the guiding principle on the standards set by the Beef Quality Assurance Cattle. That is why livestock producers like farmers and cattle ranchers practice good management by following nutrition programs, maintaining comfortable facilities and environment, as weel as coordinating with veterinarians, especially in administering antibiotics and vaccines.

In all those aspects of ensuring good animal health, approaches and practices adopted are in accordance with regulations, as those were formulated based on scientific studies.

In this article, we give special focus on the use of antibiotics in livestock production. Antibiotics after all, help farmers and cattlemen face the challenges of livestock diseases, which livestock producers must properly use by coordinating with veterinarians.

Understanding Why Antibiotics are Used in Livestock Feeds

Understanding the importance of antibiotics use in animals is important as there have been discussions about the safety of their use in raising and caring for animals. Although antibiotics are basically used as animal medicine to treat or control a disease that has afflicted a livestock, use of low-level antibiotics as feed additives, has raised questions about the safety of antibiotics.

Animal industry statistics in the U.S. indicate that about 40 percent (40%) of antibiotics produced are used as animal food supplements. Studies show that if low-level antibiotic feedlot systems are not allowed, disease problems are likely to increase and as a result, increase the therapeutic use of antibiotics.

What Makes the Use of Antibiotics as Animal Feed Additives, Safe?

Government regulations require rigid scrutiny of antibiotics before they are approved for use in livestock, either as feed-supplement or medicine.

When used for purposes of disease-treatment, animal antibiotics undergo three levels of approval : firstly for animal use, secondly on its impact on the environment and thirdly, of its safety for the meat-consuming public.

Antibiotics are passed on for approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), only after the medicine has been determined as safe for all three aspects.

Moreover, even if animal antibiotics have been FDA-approved, they still undergo annual re-evaluations and are subject to constant monitoring to ensure that they remain safe for use of the livestock production industry.

Use of Animal Antibiotics Does Not Change the Complexity of Running a Livestock Production Business

Keep in mind though that proper use of antibiotics does not change the fact that the livestock production business is quite complex in nature. Providers of a business plan writing service take into consideration, not only the prevailing and future trends in the market. As a standard procedure, business plan writers develop strategic planning that will allow livestock producers manage the effects of external forces that can affect their client’s business.

External forces after all, are events over which farmers and cattle ranchers have no control; such as the topography of the farm or ranch, the soil type, and the weather conditions and disturbances affecting the environment.

Other external forces that require proactive business planning include industry issues, be they local, national or international. As uncontrollable forces, they can affect market prices, as well as influence consumer preferences and/or demand for a livestock product.