Regardless of the financial advantages of feeding waste milk to calves, an important question is whether this practice can affect the calves’ health and result in unnecessary selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
“The Farm Cost of Decreasing Antimicrobial Use in Dairy Production,” published in PLOS One, shows the cost of forgoing antibiotics on dairy farms would average out to $61 per cow annually.
On a busy campus in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Professor Tim LaPara works to understand a complex problem – one with growing implications for humans, animals and the environment.
Global leaders concluded a meeting in Morocco with renewed calls for veterinarians and farmers to limit the use of antibiotics in livestock production.
Scientists from USDA developed the tools to mass produce penicillin, which was used for treating wounded soldiers over 70 years ago during World War II.
An investor coalition that presses for corporate responsibility is calling on U.S. food companies McDonald’s, Denny’s and Sanderson Farms to stop buying or producing meat raised with medically important antibiotics.
The tightened guidelines, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2017, require producers to obtain authorization from a veterinarian to purchase medically important antibiotics.
For humans and animals alike, health is often determined long before treatment becomes necessary. Stress and poor nutrition are leading precursors to disease.
