Strategies to reduce antibiotic usage in dairy cattle in the Netherlands

From 1999-2007, antibiotic use in animal husbandry in the Netherlands increased markedly. In that same period antibiotic resistance problems occurred and in 2002 the first report of the national surveillance programme on antibiotic usage was published. In 2010 the Ministry of Agriculture set a goal to reduce veterinary antibiotic use by 20% in 2011 and by 50% in 2013, as compared to 2009. Calculations of usage of antibiotics were based on animal daily dosage (ADD), which allowed comparison of similar livestock systems. The national reduction goal for 2011 was exceeded. Antibiotic usage in dairy cattle in the Netherlands since 1998 was described, as were developments in antibiotic resistance in bacteria derived from intramammary and from intestinal origin. There was no indication of an increase in antibiotic use in dairy cattle. Antibiotic resistance in intestinal bacteria in dairy cattle was low, when compared to other species. An exception was multidrug resistance in intestinal commensal Escherichia coli, which continuously increased since 2005. This and some other incidents described in this paper are reasons to continuously give attention to prudent use of antibiotics in cattle and to monitor trends in antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance.