Are Farm Veterinarians Pushing Too Many Antibiotics? - NPR

Enlarge imageCattle crowd inside a feedlot operated by JBS Five Rivers Colorado Beef in Wiley, Colo.John Moore/Getty ImagesIn a barn outside Manhattan, Kan., researchers from Kansas State University are trying to solve the riddle of bovine respiratory disease. They're sticking plastic rods down the noses of 6-month old calves, collecting samples of bacteria."This bacteria, Mannheimia haemolytica, lives in most cattle," explains Mike Apley, one of the research leaders. Sometimes, for reasons that aren't well understood, those bacteria make cattle sick. When that happens, or when it just seems likely to happen, cattlemen deploy antibiotics.Apley hopes to find out, among other things, whether those antibiotics actually work as advertised. If they don't, he says, it's an easy decision to not use them. Farmers save money, and meat industry critics, who want farmers to use fewer antibiotics, are happy too. "It's a win-win for everyone."Unfortunately, when it comes to antibiotics on the farm, it's not always a win-win. And when there's a fight, veterinarians are right in the middle of it, pushed back and forth by conflicting loyalties.To understand those pressures, I paid a visit to veterinarian Steven Henry in Abilene, Kan. Henry is a leading swine specialist.Pork producers rely heavily on veterinarians like Henry for advice. "They don't want to spend money on drugs if they don't need to," says Henry. "Now, you have to juxtapose that with a tremendous amount of ...
Source: PharmaGossip - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs