On-demand: Webinar on antibiotic reduction

Livestock disease management and the use of antibiotics has come under the spotlight over the last few years. The pressure is on to reduce antibiotics in livestock production and in doing so, it has a direct impact on human health.

But, how do we keep animals healthy while reducing the use of antibiotics? Are there alternative solutions? What improvements can be made to address this pressing issue? These are key questions. We look at some of these issues during this webinar. The event explored the challenges around antibiotic reduction in pigs, dairy cows as well as poultry and also explored opportunities to move away from antibiotic use in the livestock sector.

Speakers and presentations on antibiotic reduction

1. Dr Brad Lawrence, senior technical manager, Pork Business Team North America at Novus, talked about ‘The sow – the first key step to successful antibiotic reduction in progeny’.

• Challenges in optimising pigs weaned per sow.
• How the sow may be our first opportunity to overcome these challenges.
• How trace mineral nutrition may play a bigger role in the success of those pigs than you might think.

VIEW ANTIBIOTIC REDUCTION WEBINAR ON-DEMAND HERE

2. Ana Gavrău, global technical sales and innovation manager at Agrana, looked at ‘Natural betaine – nutritional AID in strategies targeting antibiotic reduction’. Natural betaine is much more than a ‘sparing tool’. As betaine is a multi-functional nutrient, its application can result in multiple benefits:

• On the livestock health status – especially gut health
• Better performance
• Higher production efficiency

VIEW ANTIBIOTIC REDUCTION WEBINAR ON-DEMAND HERE

3. Dave Thompson, Michigan State University-Extension educator for swine production, presented on ‘US meat/dairy industry efforts to reduce the use of medically important antimicrobials’.

• US farmers and commodity groups recognise the importance of global One Health initiatives and are taking steps to help preserve the efficacy of medically important antimicrobials.
• Stakeholder surveys conducted post-VFD generally indicate more positives than negatives associated with responsible antimicrobial use programs.
• Emerging technologies/practices to further reduce reliance on medically important antimicrobials.