Using medicines responsibly in livestock

Medicines are vital in livestock production and maintaining their availability and efficacy is important. Learn about using medicines responsibly and environmental considerations.

We promote and demonstrate responsible use of medicines to protect livestock and our industry’s reputation. Increasingly, responsible medicine use is a focus in trade discussions and food safety, as well as the wider benefits for good human and environmental health.

Medicines are essential to safeguard both human and animal health and welfare.

There are different types of medication, each with a clear purpose and regulations to prevent harm.

They include:

• Antibiotics
• Vaccines
• Antiparasitics
• Antifungals
• Analgesics
• Hormones
• Anti-inflammatories

Medications can be used to prevent, control and treat diseases (and or their clinical signs) but their effectiveness is reliant on responsible and appropriate use.

Drug resistance is a key threat to human and animal health globally and requires a one-health approach.

Anyone using medicines, whether for themselves, a family member, a companion animal, livestock or as part of their profession has a key part to play in ensuring all medicines are used correctly and disposed of responsibly. This will slow the development of drug resistance.

The aim is to use as little as possible, but as much as is necessary, to prevent unnecessary suffering and restore health.

Current activity on responsible medicine use

We provide:

• The electronic medicine book for pigs (eMB-Pigs), a website for all UK pig producers enabling the pig sector to record more accurate on-farm antibiotic usage data
• The Medicine Hub, a safe, secure and independent central repository to collate and report antibiotic data for UK dairy, beef and sheep farms to provide evidence that the UK ruminant sectors are responsible users of antibiotics
• An annual vaccine uptake report for cattle and sheep, to monitor and provide evidence of the likely protection from vaccines for the target animal groups as part of responsible use of medicines

We support multiple stakeholder groups by providing expertise and, in some cases, funding. These include:

• Ruminant Health and Welfare
• Pig Health and Welfare Council
• Responsible use of Medicines in Agriculture (RUMA)
• Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) 
• Control of Worms Sustainably (COWS)
• Red Tractor Technical Advisory Committees

We bring together emerging knowledge from academia through to on-farm practice right along the food chain.

We lead where there is opportunity and collaborate where a shared approach will deliver greater impact.

We share the findings and implications with the industry so they can make changes where necessary and apply cutting-edge technology and knowledge where appropriate. This involves working alongside the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and other organisations, to slow the development of drug resistance.

Prescribing and supplying medicines

In recent years, the number of healthcare professionals who are trained and able to prescribe and/or supply medicines has increased.

These include:

• Doctors
• Dentists
• Nurses
• Pharmacists
• Paramedics
• Vets
• Registered animal medicine advisors (RAMAs), also known as Suitably Qualified Persons (SQPs)

There are restrictions on the types of medicines that can be prescribed and/or supplied within these groups, with some prescribing needing to be supervised.

Regardless of their profession, all are accountable to their respective professional bodies to prescribe and/or supply responsibly, or risk losing this privilege.

This can be done by prescribing appropriately for people and animals, and ensuring when medicines are prescribed, they are used correctly.

How can I use medicines responsibly on farm?

Preventing disease is key to using medicines responsibly and brings with it the added benefits of reduced labour and medicine costs, improved herd/flock performance and profitability, and a reduced environmental footprint.

Good stockpeople are crucial when it comes to controlling disease, reducing its impact and the need for medicines. Their expertise are critical in ensuring the fundamentals such as ventilation, nutrition, water supply, housing and hygiene are well managed.

Other important measures include:

• Implementing good biosecurity measures and reviewing quarantine procedures for purchased or returning livestock
• Measuring and monitoring colostrum quality to ensure youngstock get the best start in life – this improves immunity to disease and, subsequently, reduce the need for antibiotics
• Reviewing on-farm medicine use with your vet – this helps you identify disease risks, optimise vaccination schedules and enable management changes that support profitable and sustainable production systems
• Vaccines – these form an integral part of herd and flock health management and can offer cost-effective solutions to prevent/reduce future disease, clinical signs and control disease impact

Understanding what diseases are circulating in your herd/flock is a vital first step in managing and controlling disease and in minimising disease impact.

Where medicines are necessary, using them responsibly will preserve the effectiveness of them for future use, both in people and animals, and minimise any impacts on the environment.

Antibiotics, anthelmintics, flukicides and ecto-parasiticides are a key concern within agriculture.

Responsible use means they should be used as little as possible but as much as necessary to protect the health and productivity of livestock where there is a genuine risk to animal health and welfare.

Advice on how to use medicines responsibly on farm, including information on understanding resistance and strategies to prevent health issues can be found below.

You should always follow specific advice from your veterinary surgeon and registered animal medicines adviser (RAMA/SQP).

Your vet may advise alternative good-practice solutions based on their knowledge of the disease, the animals and the infrastructure of the farm.

Environmental considerations

Many compounds used to treat disease or control pests and parasites have the potential to negatively impact invertebrates, such as dung beetles, flies and aquatic fauna.

This can occur when the active ingredients or their metabolites are excreted in the manure and/or urine of treated animals, or leach into the environment as a result of poor storage, application or disposal.

Since 2005, medicines licensed for farmed livestock in the UK undergo an environmental risk assessment, which is reviewed by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) before any licence is granted. This results in environmental guidance on the product label, which must be followed. It is also underpinned by the system for monitoring adverse reactions, which includes any environmental impact.

The activity of a medicine within the animal and the environment are not the same thing, and the meat/milk withdrawal period of a product has no direct relationship to the risk to the environment.

Follow the specific disposal information on the bottle. For example, for the majority of products, the advice is not to allow the product access to watercourses, so do not pour any product down the sink/drain or wash out bottles prior to disposal.

Dispose of bottles and plastic storage containers and equipment as per local guidance.

To minimise environmental risk, it is vital that products are used, stored and disposed of according to the label instructions.