The issue of antimicrobial resistance is of global concern across human and animal health. In 2016, the UK government committed to new targets for reducing antimicrobial use (AMU) in livestock. Although a number of metrics for quantifying AMU are defined in the literature, all give slightly different interpretations. This paper evaluates a selection of metrics for AMU in the dairy industry: total mg, total mg/kg, daily dose and daily course metrics. Although the focus is on their application to the dairy industry, the metrics and issues discussed are relevant across livestock sectors. In order to be used widely, a metric should be understandable and relevant to the veterinarians and farmers who are prescribing and using antimicrobials. This means that clear methods, assumptions (and possible biases), standardised values and exceptions should be published for all metrics. Particularly relevant are assumptions around the number and weight of cattle at risk of treatment and definitions of dose rates and course lengths; incorrect assumptions can mean metrics over-represent or under-represent AMU. The authors recommend that the UK dairy industry work towards the UK-specific metrics using the UK-specific medicine dose and course regimens as well as cattle weights in order to monitor trends nationally.

Farmer-led, participatory approaches are being increasingly employed in agricultural research with promising results. This study aimed to understand how a participatory approach based on the Danish Stable Schools could help to achieve practical, farmer-led changes that reduced reliance on antimicrobials in the UK. Five facilitated Farmer Action Groups comprising 30 dairy farms across South West England met on farm at regular intervals between 2016 -2018 and worked collaboratively within their groups to discuss how to reduce antimicrobial use. Qualitative data from group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews were collected and analysed using thematic analysis to explore how the approach helped farmers address and deal with changes to their on-farm practices.Facilitator-guided reviews of antimicrobial use and benchmarking were carried out on each farm to assess any change in usage and help farmers review their practices. The pattern of antimicrobial use changed over the 2 years of the study with 21 participating farms reducing their use of highest priority critically important antibiotics (6 farms were not using any of these critical medicines from the outset).Thirty practical action plans were co-developed by the groups with an average implementation rate of 54.3% within a year. All assessed farms implemented 1 recommendation, and many were still ongoing at the end of the study. Farmers particularly valued the peer-to-peer learning during farm walks.Farmers reported how facilitated discussions and action planning as a peer group had empowered them to change practices. Participants identified knowledge gaps during the project, particularly on highest priority critically important antibiotics where they were not getting information from their veterinarians. The study demonstrated that facilitation has a valuable role to play in participatory approaches beyond moderating discussion; facilitators encouraged knowledge mobilization within the groups and were participants in the research as well. Facilitated, farmer-led, participatory approaches that mobilize different forms of knowledge and encourage peer learning are a promising way of helping farmers to adapt and develop responsible practices.ScholarOne support: (434) 964 4100

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BackgroundThis paper explores the current role and place of diagnostic tests in the treatment of farm animal disease. With the growing focus on reduced reliance on antibiotic medicines in both animal and human patient care, attention is increasingly being focused on the practice, the technology and the function of diagnostic tests and how these can support responsible antimicrobial use. Emerging diagnostic technologies offer the possibility of more rapid testing for bacterial disease, while food chain actors and others are increasingly seeking to make diagnostic tests mandatory before the use of critically important antibiotics.MethodThis paper reports the findings of a recent large-scale online survey of UK farm animal veterinarians (n=153) which investigated current veterinary diagnostic practice with particular attention to the relationship between diagnostic test use and antibiotic treatment.ResultsResults revealed a range of factors that influence veterinary diagnostic practice and demonstrate the continuing importance of clinical observation and animal/herd knowledge in the selection of antibiotic treatment.ConclusionThe findings identify a considerable ambivalence on the part of farm animal veterinarians regarding the current and future uses of rapid and point-of-care diagnostic tests as a means of improving clinical diagnosis and addressing inappropriate antibiotic medicine use.

Stakeholders can hold conflicting values and viewpoints, on what animal welfare is and how a good life is achieved and can signal different problems, or problematize specific aspects of farm animal welfare, and propose different actions or interventions within food supply chains. The aim of the study is to explore the contribution of narrative and argumentative discourse to the social construction and framing of animal welfare and its implications. The methodological approach in this research is composed of two phases with phase 1 being the foundational structured literature search in both academic and grey literature. Phase 2 was the analysis of the secondary data from the literature review to develop a synthesized iterative paper and in doing so develop a typology of five narratives: the ‘farming as a business’ narrative, the ‘religion-based’ narrative, the ‘research, legislative and political based narrative’, the ‘higher welfare’ narrative, and the “animal rights/power-based” narrative. Our findings demonstrate the contestation within the stakeholder discourse of the articulation of why farm animals should have a good life. Performance-related perspectives are rooted in the value-laden language and narratives that shape the arguments regarding notions of good and bad welfare; the emergent positioning of positive welfare for farm animals as well as how to achieve a good life in practice. The novel contribution of this review is the application of an explanatory word-language-discourse-person-situation-environment framework in this specific context to inform future research on animal welfare discourse analysis.