How video monitoring helped halve a dairy’s antibiotics use

A Pembrokeshire dairy farming family have made significant strides in reducing their antibiotics use on-farm by using technology and working closely with their vet.

Stephen and Daniel James, who farm at Gelly Olau Farm, near Clynderwen, are part of the Arwain DGC consortium Proof of Concept farm network.

They are using novel technologies to try and reduce disease burden and the need for treatment with antimicrobials in their herd.

See also: Dairy herd health maintained as antimicrobials use cut further

The Jameses have been using an autonomous video monitoring system with artificial intelligence, which detects early lameness, or excessive body condition loss before the dry period, as the cows leave the parlour.

The results have been impressive: they have seen a reduction in their antimicrobials usage (AMU) from 8.9mg/kg in 2022 to 3.8mg/kg in 2024 – a 57% reduction.

Reliable data

The increased data reliability produced by the system has helped them make better herd management decisions.

“It’s been a relatively easy process. It’s monitoring and having the right mindset,” says Daniel.

“We’re now using pain relief and cow blocks and assessing each individual animal and what’s actually wrong with them, such as digital dermatitis or abscesses.”

Picking issues up early also makes good business sense, adds Stephen.

Stephen and Daniel James © Anne Dunn

“It’s better to not be spending on antibiotics. If you can sort problems before they arise, it’s cheaper all-round,” he says. 

Working with the farm on tackling their use of antibiotics, through vaccination and prompt treatment of health issues, is ProStock vet Simon Allen, who says their focus so far has been reducing use of oral antibiotics in scouring calves through vaccination of dry cows.

“The next phase is to reduce the use of injectable antibiotics, as they form a major part of AMU on the farm compared to other forms.”

Government support

The Welsh government, as part of its next five-year AMU reduction strategy, provided a £2m cash injection for the Arwain DGC consortium.

This includes keeping track of AMU data from Welsh livestock farms.

“Crucially with AMR [antimicrobials reduction] and antimicrobial stewardship, it’s really important to collect data over a longer period.

“There will be at least 4,500 farms that will continue to be recorded,” says Dewi Hughes, head of the consortium’s animal health services.

AMU calculator and report

Providing further data and tools to reduce AMU in Wales is farmer co-operative Welsh Lamb and Beef Producers (WLBP), which compiled its 2023 Antimicrobial Use Report using its AMU calculator data.

Dr Caroline Best, senior research associate at Bristol Veterinary School carried out an in-depth analysis of the data.

She says: “Thanks to the success of the AMU calculator’s roll-out across Welsh farms, it will be possible to monitor year-on-year trends in AMU in the years to come”.

“Identifying short- and longer-term fluctuations in usage will help inform stewardship decisions and demonstrate how the industry needs to adapt in response to emerging AMR risks,” she adds.

Data snapshot

WLBP’s 2023 report, using data from 2,701 beef, 2,777 sheep and 582 dairy enterprises across Wales, found:

• Beef units had the lowest AMU (2.3mg/kg median average), dairy, the highest (9.3mg/kg), and sheep, 4.6mg/kg
• The 25% of beef enterprises with the highest AMU contributed 77% of total AMU in their sector, with dairy at 76% and sheep, 72%
• Use of European Medicines Agency (EMA) Category C (Caution) products made up 49% of AMU by mass in dairy, with 38% in beef and 17% in sheep enterprises
• The most used classes were tetracyclines, aminoglycosides, aminopenicillins and penicillins.