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New Rules Restricting Antibiotics in Feed Could Affect Backyard Farmers

Robert Burns
/
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

For 70 years, antibiotics have been used to combat deadly bacterial diseases in humans and other animals, but too much of a good thing has led to some drug resistant strains that are hard to vanquish.

FDA rules that took affect Jan. 1 seek to address the problem, but might create some headaches for Maine’s backyard farmers.

The new U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules attempt to tackle the problem of drug resistant microbes on one basic front, says Maine State Veterinarian Michele Walsh.

“The idea is to take medically important antibiotics — and that’s medically important in terms of human medicine — out of our food animals, and limit their use in animal agriculture in general,” she says.

Walsh says while Maine farmers were never big users of low-dose antibiotic feeds marketed for growth promotion — now illegal — some 300 products common around the farm will be affected. For example, the medicated formula used by dairy farmers to combat pneumonia in calves will no longer be available without a vet’s signature.

While calling for the doctor instead of taking a ride to the feed store may cost more, most dairy farmers do regularly work with a vet. The same can’t be said for keepers of other kinds of livestock.

“There really isn’t at this time any realistic veterinary care that’s affordable to most backyard poultry keepers,” says Gorham poultry farmer Steven Bibula.

Bibula says with Maine’s backyard chicken boom, he is routinely called in to fill a gap and help hobbyists diagnose and treat their flocks, because no vet — small animal or large animal — will take the call.

“These regulations are going to make it harder for us generally in the state to see healthy flocks being maintained,” he says.

And Bibula says he expects to see a burgeoning black market for farm drugs if it becomes too difficult, or too expensive, to obtain them legally.

But drug resistant diseases are a problem. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, more than 2 million Americans will contract a drug resistant disease this year, and more than 20,000 will die from it. Reducing the amount of antimicrobial agents in food, water and the environment is an important step in reversing that trend, they say.

“Myself and my colleagues in veterinary medicine certainly support that and most of the producers that I know who produce food animals certainly support that as well,” Walsh says.

But she says a lack of vets is a concern for certain species and certain areas of the state — Cumberland County being among them — but says her office maintains a list of vets and resources and will help if possible.

The rules also affect Maine’s tiniest livestock: honeybees. Beekeepers needing to control a deadly bacterial outbreak such as foulbrood in their hives will now need to seek a bee veterinarian before treating.