Antibiotic Use Reduction Possible Without Compromising Productivity

Dec 06, 2018

The coordinator of the CDPQ Swine Health Team is confident the swine sector can substantially reduce its use of antibiotics without sacrificing productivity.
Effective December 1st antibiotics used in livestock production in Canada require a veterinary prescription.
"Antibiotic use in Canada: How are we doing?" will be discussed January 8th as part of a Swine Innovation Porc pre-conference session scheduled in conjunction with the Banff Pork Seminar.
Dr. Christian Klopfenstein, an extension expert for swine health management with CDPQ, says the change is consistent with what other countries are already doing.

Clip-Dr. Christian Klopfenstein-CDPQ:

Action taken in Canada is the same as the action that's taken world wide.
The major change is, in Canada we have been using antibiotics for quite awhile and we have to understand that antibiotic use in Canada in the livestock sector has always been done in a safe manner but we didn't have very much consideration about the justification for use.
The change now, we are asking to see if we can not reduce some of the antibiotics we are using and whether it's always justified.
We have always been using it in a safe manner.
Now we just need to review why we are using antibiotics and especially all the routine use of antibiotics.
They are not all justified and need to be questioned and I think we can reduce substantially antibiotic use in Canada in the swine sector without necessarily having a reduction in the productivity of the sector.

Dr. Klopfenstein notes the swine sector in Quebec is targeting a 20 percent reduction in antibiotic use by 2020 and he is confident most provinces can do the same if they analyze why antibiotics are being used.

Source : farmscape
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