We asked livestock veterinarian Oberlin McDaniel how she uses livestock antibiotics.
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At my veterinary business, NC Mobile Veterinary Service, we believe in utilizing management tools appropriately so that we use antibiotics minimally. The average North Carolina beef producer has about 45 head, and their medicine cabinet often contains a fraction of the antibiotics you’d find in an average American household.
In most livestock illness cases, antibiotics aren’t warranted. I think it’s really important for consumers to know that when we must use antibiotics, each one has a withdrawal period, and if the proper procedures are followed, there will be no residual antibiotics in the animal’s system.
We use antibiotics in fewer than 2% of cases. If a livestock animal is treated with antibiotics, it’s by prescription and with veterinary oversight, by law, never over-the-counter. When you buy meat or milk from the store, there are no antibiotics in it.
About the Farmer: Oberlin McDaniel is a livestock veterinarian who specializes in beef cattle, horses, pigs and small ruminants. She and her husband also raise beef cattle in Halifax County.
