Do Dairy Farming Systems Differ in Antimicrobial Use?

Abstract

The quantitative assessment of antimicrobial use (AMU) in food-producing animals contributes to the provision of essential information for developing relevant and effective policies to reduce use and to control antimicrobial resistance. Information on AMU is available mainly for intensive dairy farming systems and specialized high-yielding breeds. The aim of this study is to investigate AMU in different dairy farming systems by comparing the treatment incidence in mountain farms with specialized high-yield dairy breeds or with dual-purpose breeds raised for milk production to the treatment incidence in lowland farms with specialized high-yield dairy breeds or with dual-purpose breeds raised for milk production. Significant differences were found only between the overall treatment incidence, as well as the treatment incidence of highest-priority critically important antimicrobials for human medicine, in lowland farms with high-yielding breeds and mountain farms with dual-purpose breeds. Mountain farms have a generally lower milk production and smaller herd size than lowland farms, provide cows with access to pasture, and limit concentrates in the diet. These management practices and the use of local/dual-purpose breeds could reduce the risk of production diseases and the consequent need for AMU.

Mixed effect modeling of tetracycline resistance levels in Danish slaughter pigs

“…Management factors have gained a growing interest within the field of antibiotic resistance research, however, the herd size of livestock farms appears to be the most significant one causing many of the other factors such as biosecurity, number of animal suppliers, human traffic in the herd ect. Raasch et al, 2018;Sørensen et al, 2018;Xu et al, 2020;Zuliani et al, 2019). The results presented here suggest that there is a strong association between the levels of tetracycline resistance in slaughter pigs and the type of production.…”

“…The overall fit of the final model captured the trend of the data well, however, the variance of the prediction seemed to increase for higher values. The ( Raasch et al, 2018;Sørensen et al, 2018;Xu et al, 2020;Zuliani et al, 2019). The results presented here suggest that there is a strong association between the levels of tetracycline resistance in slaughter pigs and the type of production.…”

“…The use of antimicrobials increases the levels of AMR, however, it is also of great interest to investigate whether other factors have significant influence on the resistance level. Management factors such as size of slaughter pig farms, movements within pig production networks and antimicrobial administration practices have already gained interest when modeling AMR levels at pig farms Sørensen et al, 2018;Varga et al, 2009;Vieira et al, 2009;Zuliani et al, 2019). In addition, differentiating between the antimicrobial exposure for the age groups of the pig incorporates the dynamic changes of the composition of microbiome during the pigs growth (Zhao et al, 2015) and may provide a need for a more detailed measure of the exposure (Turnidge and Christiansen, 2005).…”

Antimicrobial resistance and its relationship with antimicrobial use on Austrian dairy farms

“…The various metrics used to measure antibiotic use in different published studies make it challenging to make comparisons; however, the data suggest that the dairy farms participating in the present study have a relatively low level of antibiotic consumption. Smaller herd sizes, such as those included in this study, which allow for better individual animal observation and care, could be a potential reason for the lower antibiotic consumption observed (44). In addition, Austria has a relatively low level of agricultural intensification, a high proportion of organic farms (22%), and a high use of dual-purpose breeds (75% of the national herd) (45, 46) which might be less sensitive to bacteriological infections.…”

Antibiotic Use in Alpine Dairy Farms and Its Relation to Biosecurity and Animal Welfare

“…The difference between farming system types can also play a major role. Indeed, it has been recently shown [ 35 ] that mountain farms with smaller herd sizes, which provide cows with access to pasture and limit concentrates in the diet, use less HPCIA than specialized dairy farms from lowlands. Moreover, it has been widely reported that higher productivity (notably higher milk yield) can be associated with a higher incidence of metabolic disorders, such as mastitis, lameness and other production diseases [ 36 ], requiring prompt veterinary intervention.…”