How UK broiler farms cut antibiotic use

Replacing where possible, reducing overall use and refining best practice have been the cornerstones of the antibiotic reduction programme that has delivered dramatic results for the British poultry industry. It has cut total use by almost three quarters, removed many of the most critically important drugs from poultry production and, perhaps most impressively, changed the perceptions of an industry often stereotyped as the worst for irresponsible medicine use. All without government intervention or a change in the law.

But it might have been a different story. In 2011 British legislators were looking at tough new laws that the neighbouring government of the Netherlands had introduced, severely limiting the amount of antibiotics that could be used in agriculture.

Responsible use

The poultry industry in the UK proactively decided to take matters into its own hands, setting up an Antibiotic Stewardship group in 2011 tasked with pre-empting the need for new laws. “Once you put legislation in place, you can create a lot of barriers and problems,” according to Slate Hall veterinarian Daniel Parker, who is an adviser to the group. “Our approach was to work with the government and demonstrate that these products were being used responsibly.”

A key part of the stewardship programme – which was coordinated by the British Poultry Council (BPC) – was that the participants worked together pre-competitively. Until now, that has continued to be the case, says Mr Parker, and is the secret to the success of reduction in the UK. “The various share data between each other, there’s a lot of cooperative work going on within the BPC membership which in my view has driven the changes that we’ve seen.”

The latest report released by the BPC reveals just how successful the initiative has been. Between 2012 and 2017 usage was down 82% – and the industry managed a 40% reduction between 2016-2017 alone. Considering fluoroquinolones in isolation, then their use was down 91%. Achieving this reduction has been about ensuring good chick quality, a good environment for birds that is disease free and good quality feed, according to Mr Parker. “Unfortunately, in reality it’s not always that easy to achieve those outcomes,” he explains. One major help, however, has been biomass boilers – and specifically indirect heating – which warm sheds without introducing moisture.

Indirect heat

“Historically you had a heater in the house producing Co2 and water, once that water is in there your biggest job is trying to get that water out of the house. In my view, taking out that early moisture has transformed poultry production in this country – there is better litter quality, coccidiosis control and ultimately better gut health.”

In addition, says Mr Parker, there has been investment in new housing, with better insulation and temperature control. But despite the successes, there are still health challenges on farms, and medicines need to remain available to treat them, he says. “There’s an awful lot of chickens out there that don’t get treated, those farms that do need medicating get targeted.” On his own practice, record keeping is a key part of the reduction strategy, with codified records of which treatments are recommended based on the diagnoses.

Health issues

The main issues found on farms in this post-antimicrobial environment are relating to chick quality, leg health and a further 10% is some form of enteric disorder. With chick quality, it is mainly early infections, and the dramatic reduction in routine antibiotic use has seen overall mortality increase to about 1.7%, as opposed to about 1% when prophylactic treatments were more common.

Mr Parker says improving chick quality is a task for the entire supply chain, and gains are to be made in ensuring the highest quality control from the breeder farm right through to hatch. “Finally, when your chicks hatch they must be graded and remove those that should not be delivered to farm.” The leg issues tend to arise at around the first two weeks, and once an infection is established, it is difficult to treat. “The problem is that they are quite low grade, but they start to present in the mid-to-late teens, and often they are non-responsive, or poorly responsive to antibiotic therapy at that stage. “The blood supply isn’t sufficient to actually get a kill on these bacteria. So we see ongoing culling.”

Further work

The BPC stewardship group is continuing to work on its best practice, but Mr Parker feels it may have reached close to the limits of reduction, explaining that he expects use to perhaps increase slightly before levelling off. But work is ongoing. Data collection will continue to be improved, and detection is also a focus. “We want to look at better more rapid testing methods for antimicrobial sensitivity but also the overall gut in terms of diagnostics. If we have a viral infection for example, we don’t want to treat that with antibiotics – having improved diagnostics therefore would be helpful.” Daniel Parker was speaking at the Society of Feed Technologists’ poultry conference.