The Real Dirt: Antibiotics and livestock—an ongoing dialogue this week

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Antibiotics and livestock—an ongoing dialogue this week

(Sam Gardner of Bedford County raises replacement heifers for dairy farms.

Photo by Kathy Dixon, Virginia Farm Bureau)

This week there is an interesting discussion going on in Roanoke about farmers using antibiotics in livestock production. The Roanoke Times is inviting everyone to read a point and counterpoint on the issue and comment on their blog.

One point is made by Bedford County farmer Sam Gardner, president of Gardner Heifers Inc., who also is a member of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers Committee. He was a 2011 winner of the VFBF Young Farmers Environmental Stewardship Award, which recognized efforts on his family’s farm to protect natural resources.

Gardner argues that responsible use of antibiotics in livestock helps ensure healthy animals and healthy food.

Get in on the discussion today! Contributors’ rebuttals will be published June 10.

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Comment Policy:

The Real Dirt is a forum for Virginia Farm Bureau to share information about agriculture and foster dialogue related to ag issues. We encourage civil, on-topic comments. We also reserve the right to omit comments that promote services or products; make unsupported accusations; are far off-topic; or contain vulgar language, personal attacks of any kind or offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups. To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment.