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by Jgrubb 1145 days ago
The off label use of "makes animals gain weight faster" is why the entire industrial animal meat industry has been feeding antibiotics to cows for over a generation now. It's why "antibiotic free" is a marketing label now, because the opposite was the previous default. The antibiotic properties of antibiotics are basically a side effect.
1 comments
giantg2 1145 days ago
Eh, sort of. It's still mostly secondary. If you aren't feeding cattle antibiotic in a CAFO where they're crowded, eating spent brewers grain (mostly from fuel production), and living in filth, then they will get sick and die. Same thing for most chicken houses until changes were made a few years ago. The 10% or so of production that takes place on small farms generally didn't use antibiotics as a standard ration because they didn't need to, even if it would have slightly improved weight gain. Even the industry is try to voluntarily eliminate it in pork because they want access to international markets.
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biorach 1145 days ago
> If you aren't feeding cattle antibiotic in a CAFO where they're crowded, eating spent brewers grain (mostly from fuel production), and living in filth, then they will get sick and die

Much citation needed. I don't know exactly what you mean by CAFO when it comes to cattle, but the EU banned routine administration of antibiotics with no noticable effect on the practice of permanently housing cows or beef cattle

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giantg2 1145 days ago
Plenty of citation is available if you google the term you don't know. Here's a basic overview of a CAFO (common in US, rare in EU).

https://www.sierraclub.org/grassroots-network/food-agricultu...

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biorach 1145 days ago
Thanks for the patronizing answer to a question I didn't ask

The EU has no shortage of feedlots and zero-grazed cow herds, and yet has phased out routine administration of antibiotics without any noticeable reduction in the animals in these conditions.

Therefore...

I'm asking for a citation for your claim that it's not possible to keep animals alive in these conditions without the use of antibiotics

> If you aren't feeding cattle antibiotic in a CAFO where they're crowded, eating spent brewers grain (mostly from fuel production), and living in filth, then they will get sick and die

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giantg2 1145 days ago
Do you have a source?
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