In just a few months, you no longer will be able to stop at your local farm store and pick up a bottle of penicillin or box of mastitis tubes.
While there may be a few exceptions, those products will disappear from the shelves of over-the-counter (OTC) outlets, thanks to a new policy issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that takes effect June 11, 2023.
Animal Antibiotic Use Falling
The change in antibiotic availability is part of a larger, global effort to protect the integrity and effectiveness of antimicrobial drugs. Born out of concern for the growing development of antimicrobial resistance, the regulations target “medically important” drugs that are approved for use in both humans and animals.
But it’s also a change that Twin Falls, Idaho dairy veterinarian Elizabeth Kohtz, DVM, believes will register low concern for the U.S. dairy industry. “Most dairies already have an excellent working relationship with a herd veterinarian, and are accustomed to managing prescription products,” she said. “As a whole, the industry is doing very well in using antibiotics strategically and responsibly.”
Kohtz’ sentiment is backed by data revealing a precipitous decline in veterinary antibiotic use in recent years. According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, global antibiotic use for animals has dropped by about one-third, falling by 27% from 2016-2018 alone.
In the U.S., animal antimicrobial sales have fallen 38% since 2015, owing in part to the enactment of the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) in 2017, which brought all medically important antibiotic feed additives under the oversight of a licensed veterinarian in the U.S. In fact, the remaining OTC antibiotics that now are shifting to veterinary oversight represent just 4% of the total medically important antimicrobials marketed for use in animals, according to FDA.
“As a whole, dairy producers have become much more astute in their collaboration with their veterinarians; antibiotic use decisions; and drug recordkeeping,” stated Kevin Jacque, DVM, PAS, assistant professor and ambulatory clinician at the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
“Even penicillin, while available OTC, already required a veterinary prescription because the effective dose for adult dairy cattle was higher than the labeled dose,” he explained. “So, the new rules will not instigate a major change for most dairies.”
A Healthy Evolution in Dairy
But anyone who has been involved in the dairy industry for a decade or more knows that today’s practices are a dramatic shift from the days when antibiotics were considered the “first-line” defense for anything from calf scours to growth promotion.
Jacque said the improvement in judicious antibiotic use is further evidenced by a dramatic reduction in FDA-issued Drug Residue Warning letters of reprimand to dairy producers responsible for violative drug residues in meat and milk. Once issued by the hundreds in years past, the necessity of those letters recently has trickled to just a few per year.
Today, the two experts believe antimicrobial drugs are being utilized in a less ubiquitous – but more veterinary-driven, targeted – fashion, thanks to:
- Increased focus on calf nutrition, housing, and sanitation that have improved calf health and productivity and reduced the incidence of pneumonia and scours.
- Better colostrum management and delivery, which lays an irreplicable, lifelong foundation for better immunity and health.
- Less use of metaphylactic, “blanket” antibiotic treatment of whole groups of animals, and more focus on the individual animal.
- The advent to total mixed rations that deliver a more comprehensive nutrition package to every cow, every day.
- Adoption of fresh-cow protocols that proactively monitor and address the health needs of cows in transition.
- Improved vaccine technology and protocol implementation that has strengthened animal immunity and reduced overall disease incidence.
- Core-antigen vaccines for environmental mastitis that have dramatically reduced the incidence of septic mastitis, diminishing the need for antibiotics to treat sepsis.
- Teat sealants, which have successfully lowered the incidence of dry-period mastitis infections.
- Accelerated offering and adoption of veterinary diagnostic tools that allow producers and their veterinarians to target antibiotic therapy more accurately to the cases that need it.
- Greater surveillance for diseases like BVD and Johne’s Disease, which has promoted the retention of healthier replacements.
- Activity and rumen function monitors that detect and signal health changes earlier in the disease process.
- Implementation of genomic selection using tools like the Health Index to produce replacement animals that are equipped with more robust structural and genetic foundations that promote longevity and lower disease incidence.
The Case for Advocacy
If there is a type of livestock producer who will struggle with the new antibiotic-access regulations, both Jacque and Kohtz said it’s the “backyard” operations and youth livestock exhibitors who may not have a veterinary client-patient-relationship in place.
“A lot of commercial producers have interactions with youth exhibitors through 4-H and FFA programs,” said Kohtz. “This creates an important opportunity to serve as role models for the industry. The most critical thing to stress to these young people and their families is that they should have a relationship with a veterinarian the first day they own that animal, and not just when they have a problem.”
Dairy producers also should be prepared to advocate for the responsible use of antibiotics in animals, which often is challenged by consumer advocacy groups. “Arm yourself with examples of reduced and refined antibiotic use, both as an industry and in your own business,” advised Jacque. “Also, be sure to explain that there are more animals than people, and that large animals require higher doses of antibiotics on a weight basis, so that’s why more antibiotics are used in animals than people. That’s a statistic that often gets skewed in the general public.”
Jacque, who also is chairman of the Pharmaceuticals and Biologics Committee for the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP), said the veterinary profession is working diligently to protect animal agriculture’s right to use antibiotics when necessary. “We have an excellent dialogue with drug manufacturers and the authorities at FDA,” he shared. “Not everything we suggest is adopted, but we do have strong relationships built on mutual respect.”
Access to antibiotics should not be taken for granted, noted Kohtz. “I visited Germany nearly 10 years ago, and even back then, I was shocked at all of the regulations and hoops through which veterinarians and livestock producers had to jump, just to treat a sick animal. We definitely don’t want our industry to end up there.”
Kohtz is encouraged by most dairies’ proactive, “whole animal” approach to animal health that has replaced the “shotgun” mentality of the past. Today, she still views antibiotic therapy as a valuable tool, but also somewhat of a last resort. “When I have to treat an animal with antibiotics, regardless of age, she’ll probably never quite be 100% again,” she shared. “It’s a benefit to everyone – most importantly, the animal – to keep her healthy rather than fix her after she’s broken.”
