How much should farmers depend on vets for preventative animal health care?
Dr. Lee: It can be a bit dangerous to think strictly in terms of preventive medicine. If animals are mismanaged—for example, if they’re not fed properly or housed properly—it doesn’t matter how much preventive care you provide, you can easily overwhelm the prevention strategies. Ultimately, returns come from paying attention to the basics. Healthy, well-kept animals are going to be most productive, and the economic returns you get from quality care [are returns] you can’t get from a vaccine. An increasing number of smaller-scale farmers want to raise antibiotic-free animals. Is this a good thing? Dr. Chan: Saying “I’m not going to use any drugs for anything” isn’t reasonable. Every management system has different requirements and guidelines. I’m all for minimising antibiotic use, if you can feed right, have the right space and environment, the right anti-parasitic program, etc. However, in certain cases it may be necessary to use antibiotics as a form of preventative medicine. The anim
