Ruminant sector antibiotic stewardship survey launched

A survey for vets and other key stakeholders that will help the UK ruminant sector form an antibiotic stewardship plan has been launched.

The anonymous questionnaire is part of the first stage of the sector’s efforts to develop an antibiotic stewardship roadmap promoting responsible usage.

It is seeking to address data collection challenges by identifying what ruminant antibiotic use data is needed, both at national reporting level and at farm level, to ensure that data collected is valuable to vet practices and farms and is collated and distributed appropriately.

The results will help form the roadmap alongside further insights gathered through workshops and a summit event.

Range of views

It is open to vets, farmers, government employees, academics and any other stakeholders working within the UK ruminant sector to ensure a range of views are received.

Cattle Antibiotic Guardian Group (CAGG) chair Mark Jelley said: “Farmers are already required to record their purchase and use of veterinary medicines but turning this requirement into evidence of responsible use while also being confident that data is being used responsibly is challenging.

“Other food producing species in the UK can demonstrate their medicine use with confidence and many competitor nations are now legislating for this data collection too – the ruminant sector is at risk of being left behind.”

Said to take between 10 and 20 minutes to complete, the survey is open until 28 February 2026.