Dairy Farms and the Heavy Cost of Antibiotics

In 2019, a study looked at how much dairy farms in Central Europe spend on medicines for their cows. The focus was on antibiotics, which are a big deal because they can cause problems like antimicrobial resistance. The study checked out 20 farms with over 18, 000 cows in five countries: Czechia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The average cost for medicines per cow was €63. 3, but it varied a lot. Czechia spent the least, while Slovenia spent the most. Antibiotics were the biggest expense, making up 40. 8% of the total cost. Hormones, surgical products, vaccines, vitamins, and antiparasitics were also used, but not as much.Most of the money spent on antibiotics went to treating mastitis, a common udder infection. Other big issues were reproductive problems, lameness, and respiratory diseases. Cephalosporins were the most used type of antibiotic, especially in udder treatments. Penicillins and combinations of different antibiotics were also common. The study found that dairy farms spend a lot on antibiotics, mostly because of mastitis treatments. However, the use of these drugs varied a lot between different farms. This shows that there is room for improvement in how antibiotics are used in dairy farming.