The recently published findings of a survey of farm vets in Ireland has shown that 57.9% of farm vets strongly agree that farmers regularly fail to apply antibiotics correctly.
A total of 114 farm animal vets was surveyed, which represents 11% of all farm animal veterinarians in Ireland.
The findings of the survey were published by the Irish Veterinary Journal this week (Monday, October 2).
In the survey, 30.7% of respondents agreed and a further 57.9% strongly agreed that farmers regularly fail to apply antibiotics correctly.
Farm vets
The average number of years of professional experience (in practice) of survey respondents was 9.7 years, while 62.3% had no more than seven years of practice experience.
28.9% described themselves as practice owners, 63.2% as employees, and 7.9% as “other”.
71.9% graduated from the University College Dublin (UCD); 13.2% from Budapest; 4.4% from a UK university; 3.5% from Warsaw; and 7% from elsewhere.
Proportion of vet’s working time spent Poultry Pigs Cattle (other than veal) Veal calves Small ruminants Horses Pets 0% 85% 86% 4% 75% 9% 33% 12% 1-20% 15% 13% 12% 21% 71% 58% 22% 20-40% 0% 1% 25% 2% 16% 6% 30% 40-60% 0% 0% 28% 0% 3% 1% 23% 60-80% 0% 0% 18% 2% 1% 1% 9% 80-100% 0% 0% 11% 0% 1% 1% 4%
11% of respondents are spending 80-100% of their time working with cattle (other than veal cattle).
57.9% of respondents agreed and a further 19.3% strongly agreed that they found it difficult to deviate from routines that the farmers were accustomed to.
More experienced vets were less likely to be influenced by their clients’ demands, and less experienced vets may prioritise client satisfaction over antibiotic stewardship in their prescribing habits.
Cumulatively, 74.6% of respondents found it difficult to be considered the primary advisor, given all other advisors that advise the farmer.
Antibiotic use
In total, 54.4% of respondents agreed and 26.3% strongly agreed that the possible contribution of veterinary antibiotic use to the development of antibiotic resistant infections in humans is worrisome.
86.9% of survey respondents agreed that it is their goal to reduce antibiotic use on farms as much as possible.
Respondents of this survey identified the treatment of cattle as the area where the highest amount of reduction of antibiotics could be achieved, with 53 (46.5%) and 45 (39.5%) respondents suggesting that a 10-25% or 25-50% reduction, respectively, was considered possible in the next five years.
A reduction in on-farm antibiotic use is possible in the near future, according to 62.3% of respondents.
Solutions from vets
92.2% of respondents agreed that antibiotic use could be lowered further if they could monitor animal health on a farm more frequently.
The findings also showed “a strong desire amongst Irish farm animal veterinarians for farmer education on correct antibiotic usage in order to reduce antibiotic use”.
“Many respondents are willing to apply antibiotics preventatively if they thought they could prevent disease, which is contrary to current EU regulations,” according to the authors of the study.
Prescribing behaviour among respondents in this study show a willingness to apply antibiotics preventatively if they thought that they could prevent disease.
Farmer education on correct antibiotic use was seen as a common reduction opportunity among respondents in the survey.
Most respondents saw a reduction in antibiotic use on farms possible in the future and the cattle sector was viewed as having the biggest opportunity for reduction in antibiotic use.
Conclusions
The survey was distributed to vets in February and March 2022, and the research was conducted by Sorcha O’Connor, Simon J. More, David C. Speksnijder, and Carloalberto Petti.
They concluded that most of the Irish veterinarians in farm animal practice who participated in this study seek to use antibiotics as judiciously as they can, but there are some barriers to this prescribing.
Possible solutions to this were gained from the survey respondents, including through the development of antibiotic treatment guidelines, assigning one unique practice to each farm, and compulsory continuous professional development (CPD) courses.
By working in accordance with the new veterinary medicine regulations that incorporate data recording on antibiotic use and collaborative educational schemes on antibiotic safeguarding, the authors of the study concluded that Irish veterinarians and farmers can help reduce antibiotic use on farm and subsequently, help combat antibiotic resistance.