Monitoring and benchmarking AM use – establishing the metrics

This video describes the standard measurements used to assess antimicrobial usage across farms, and why we would need to be able to make comparisons between different farms and against a benchmark.

The overall idea behind setting a benchmark level of antimicrobial usage in farms is to provide incentives for being below the level, and to identify farms with higher levels of usage so that ways of reducing this can be introduced.

The 2 main categories of monitoring are mass-based and dose-based.

The mass-based measurement is milligrams of antibiotic used per PCU (mg/PCU). PCU is an estimate of the total kg of livestock on a farm at the time of treatment. To gain a better understanding of this measure, please read the guide in the see also section from the VMD.

The 2 dose-based measurements are defined daily doses (DDDvet) and defined course doses (DCDvet). DDDvet is the number of antimicrobial doses an average animal receives in a year; this measurement does not include longer lasting therapies or off-licenced treatments. DCDvet is the number of antimicrobial courses an average animal receives in a year; similarly to DDDvet, it excludes off-licenced treatments, however it does include longer lasting therapies.

If an antimicrobial usage measurement is particularly high compared to other farms it suggests higher levels of disease or an inappropriate treatment approach. From this, methods can be implemented to try and reduce antimicrobial usage levels.

The next step will describe a case study where benchmarking has been particularly useful.

Please find a downloadable copy of the PowerPoint slides used in the video in the downloads section below.