Source: MEATINGPLACE, 12/22/15

Efforts to restrict use of antibiotics for enhancing livestock production are likely to have a modest impact on the industry, according to a USDA economist studying the issue.

A significant portion of livestock producers do not use antibiotics for production purposes, and farmers that do use the drugs to promote growth on average see only a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in productivity, said Stacy Sneeringer, an economist with USDA’s Economic Research Service.

For example, 48 percent of broiler producers, 51 percent of nursery hog producers and 38 percent of finishing hog producers reported they did not use antibiotics for growth promotion, according to the most recent data available.

Sneeringer spoke during a webinar looking at the findings of a recently released USDA report on the economics of antibiotic use in U.S. livestock production.

She said potential effects of restrictions on antibiotic use for production purposes include:
• More feed required per unit of weight gain.
• Slower growth to market weight.
• Higher rates of death and illness among young animals.
• Reproduction levels might decrease.
• More animals weighing in at the higher and lower ends of the spectrum.
• More extensive bio-security and other disease prevention measures may be required.

While restrictions could result in higher costs of production, foreign buyers that previously rejected U.S. products due to antibiotic use may now permit them, Sneeringer also noted.

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