Economic Impact of Antimicrobial Use in Feedlots

Abstract

In beef feedlot production, antimicrobials are used daily to control disease and improve production. The vast majority of feedlot animals receive ionophores in the feed to control coccidiosis and improve feed efficiency, and antimicrobials in the feed to reduce the incidence of liver abscesses. Other antimicrobials, such as decoquinate, chlortetracycline and sulfamethazine occasionally are used according to label recommendations to prevent or control specific disease outbreaks and/or to "aid in the maintenance of weight gains and feed efficiency in cattle during periods of stress, due to weaning, shipping or handling." Parenteral antimicrobials also are used in high-risk populations according to label recommendations to prevent, control and/or treat disease.

Because increasing antimicrobial resistance in human pathogens poses a serious threat to the treatment of infectious disease in humans, use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture is under heavy scrutiny from several prominent scientists. The source of this resistance is speculated to lie with in the widespread use of antimicrobials in farm animal production. As a result, it has been suggested that the use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture be limited to therapeutic applications, which would substantially reduce the cost of production associated with antimicrobial costs. The latter theory ignores the economic benefits associated with non-therapeutic antimicrobial usage. It is imperative that these economic benefits are accurately described so that rational, informed, data-based decisions regarding the future of antimicrobial usage in food animal production can be made.