SDa report - Usage of Antibiotics in Agricultural Livestock in the Netherlands in 2020 - Key Findings and Concerns

Sep 15, 2026

Letter presenting the SDa report on antibiotic use in Dutch agricultural livestock sectors in 2020, covering turkey, veal, rabbit, poultry, cattle and pig farming. The Netherlands Veterinary Medicines Institute explains the organization’s role in promoting responsible antibiotic use to reduce resistance and highlights trends across livestock categories. It notes sector-specific declines, low use of last-resort antibiotics, a rise in polymyxin use, discrepancies between sales and recorded usage, and persistent high usage farms requiring targeted benchmarking and action plans.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLetters

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time1 min

AccessFree to download

Key overview of the SDa report

Declines and sector-specific findings

Record-keeping requirements and last-resort antibiotics

Sales versus recorded usage

Persistent high usage farms and benchmarking

Benchmark thresholds and acceptable-use trends

Utrecht, June 2, 2021 Re: SDa report Usage of Antibiotics in Agricultural Livestock in the Netherlands in 2020 Dear Sir or Madam, It is with great pleasure that the Netherlands Veterinary Medicines Institute (SDa) presents its report Usage of Antibiotics in Agricultural Livestock in the Netherlands in 2020. In this publication, the SDa reports on the amounts of antibiotics used in the Dutch turkey, veal, rabbit, poultry, cattle and pig farming sectors in 2020. The SDa was established in late 2010 to promote responsible use of antibiotics at Dutch animal husbandries with the aim of reducing antibiotic resistance. Livestock sectors and veterinarians are committed to reducing the amounts of antibiotics used to acceptable levels. In 2020, antibiotic use in all of the monitored livestock sectors combined was lower than the year before. Despite this favorable development, there is still room for improvement. The main findings and concerns are summarized below. Several livestock sectors recording a decline in amount of antibiotics used In 2020, the turkey farming sector and the veal farming sector managed to reduce their amounts of antibiotics used by 38.8% and 7.3%, respectively, compared to 2019. Antibiotic use in the rabbit farming sector (i.e. meat rabbit farms) was high and has shown no improvement since 2016, the year in which monitoring efforts in this livestock sector were initiated. The SDa urges the rabbit farming sector to have prudent usage of antibiotics remain a priority and to make sure antibiotic usage data are entered into the government-specified database consistently and accurately. Antibiotic use in the other livestock sectors was stable. As of April 1, 2021, goat farmers are also required to record antibiotic usage data in a governmentspecified database. Their data will be included in next year’s SDa report. Use of antibiotics classified as a drug of last resort in human medicine (fluoroquinolones and thirdand fourth-generation cephalosporins) remained low in 2020. There was a rise in polymyxin use (including colistin use) . Colistin was primarily prescribed for use in layers and weaner pigs. As colistinis one of the antibiotics classified as a drug of last resort in human medicine, the SDa board urges the livestock farmers and veterinarians concerned to implement the sector-specific colistin use reduction measures as soon as possible. Slight increase in amount of antibiotics sold In 2020, the overall amount of antibiotics sold was 2. 1% higher than the year before and represented a 69.0% reduction from the government-specified reference year of 2009. Although it is normal for the amounts of antibiotics sold to deviate somewhat from the recorded amounts of antibiotics used, the extent of the discrepancy varies from year to year. The SDa wants the underlying reasons for this discrepancy to be identified, all the more so since sales data are also recorded in an EU database. A consulting agency is currently looking into these year-to-year fluctuations. Livestock farms with persistently high usage levels and high-volume prescribers Any additional reductions in the amounts of antibiotics used will rely heavily on addressing the persistently high usage levels observed for certain livestock farms. There are still too many livestock farms recording usage levels greatly exceeding their benchmark threshold, and too many veterinarians persistently prescribing higher volumes of antibiotics than their colleagues. With the introduction of the new benchmarking method for veterinarians, livestock sectors and veterinarians are going to address these issues collectively, guided by sector-specific action plans that have been drawn up to this end. The data on 2020 indicate that as yet not a lot of headway has been made with regard to improving the number of livestock farms with high usage levels. Even though it might simply be too soon for any noticeable effects, the SDa does stress that reducing the number o

FAQs

What does the SDa report cover for 2020?

It reports the amounts of antibiotics used in Dutch turkey, veal, rabbit, poultry, cattle and pig farming sectors in 2020.

Which livestock sectors saw reductions in antibiotic use compared with 2019?

Turkey farming reduced antibiotic use by 38.8% and veal farming by 7.3% compared with 2019.

What concerns does the report raise even with overall improvement?

Persistent high-usage livestock farms and veterinarians were still common, discrepancies were observed between sold antibiotics and recorded usage, and there was a rise in polymyxin use.

Sep 15, 2026

Upload by McGucket