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Correlation between Welfare Quality® protocol and antibiotic usage in portuguese dairy farms
Cerqueira, J., Stilwell, G., D'Orey...
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Objectives
The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between animal welfare in ten dairy farms in Portugal with the use of critically or non-critically important antibiotics. We hypothesized that higher Welfare Quality® protocol (WQ) results, promote a reduction in the use of critically important and non-critically important antibiotics.
Methods and materials
Ten farms were used in this study and were visited between January and September 2021. Farm size ranged from 35 to 789 milking cows at the time of the visit. All animals were kept on an intensive-based free-stall production system with several diverse bedding choices and were milked twice a day, with with the exception of one farm where cows were milked three times a day. All farms were assessed for animal welfare using the WQ® protocol. Antibiotic use was obtained from the farms’ treatment records, and only data from the year prior to the WQ audit was considered. General use of antibiotics was calculated using the Fifth OIE Annual Report on Antimicrobial Agents Intended for Use in Animals (OIE, 2021) guidelines. For each farm, animal biomass was calculated, only considering the WQ protocol sample as eligible. For each milking cow, an average weight of 450kg was considered. As for dried-up cows and heifers allocated together, a correlation of 0.8 of a milking cow was applied. Treatment records from the year prior to the farm visit were transferred into a Microsoft® Excel for Mac version 16.56 sheet, and antimicrobial use was flagged and separated into critically important antibiotic, if the active substance was from groups “A- Avoid” or “B- Restrict” of the Antimicrobial Advice Expert Group categorization; or non-critically important antibiotic, if the active substance was from groups “C- Caution” or “D- Prudence” of the Antimicrobial Advice Expert Group categorization (EMA, 2019). Finally, the Fifth OIE Annual Report on Antimicrobial Agents Intended for Use in Animals (OIE, 2021) adapted formula was applied to both critically and non-critically important antibiotics and correspondent productive biomass:
Antibiotic usage (mg/Kg)=Antimicrobial agents reported (mg)/Productive biomass (Kg).
The data was stored in a Microsoft® Excel for Mac version 16.56 sheet, and the descriptive statistical analysis and proposed correlations were calculated using RStudio® Mac version 2021.09, using Spearman’s bivariate correlation with a significance level of 5% (p <0.05).
Results
From the farms considered in the study, 80% obtained the "Enhanced" level, while 20% were classified as "Acceptable" as the final score. No farms were classified as "Excellent" or "Not Classified". Critically important antibiotics’ use showed a tendency for a moderate negative correlation with the “Absence of disease” criteria (p= 0.071). The remaining correlations between critically importance antibiotics use and the WQ scores, showed no significance (p≥0,336). Also, there were no significant correlations between non-critically important antibiotics use and the WQ scores.
Conclusions
Critically important antibiotics tended to be used less in farms with higher “Good Health” principle score. Our results show that welfare assessment protocols may be a way of identifying farms that overuse antibiotics.
References
- EMA. (2019). Categorisation of antibiotics in the European Union Answer. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/ report/categorisation-antibiotics-european-union-answer-request-european-commission-updating-scientific_en.pdf OIE. (2021).
- Fifth OIE Annual Report on Antimicrobial Agents Intended for Use in Animals - OIE - World Organisation for Animal Health. https://www.oie.int/en/document/fifth-oie-annual-report-on-antimicrobial-agents-intended-for-use-in-animals/ Welfare Quality. (2009).
- Welfare Quality Assessment protocol for cattle. Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol for Cattle, 1–142. http://www.welfarequalitynetwork.net/network/45848/7/0/40
Keywords: Animal welfare, Welfare Quality® , Dairy cow, Critically important antibiotics, Non-critically important antibiotics
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