Question 1

What is approximate average costs of antibiotics use in the UK pig farm, measured as a % of total pig production costs?

z.wu@qub.ac.uk · Accepted Answer

This would depend on the size of the farm, but antibiotic treatments, where needed, average out to approximately a quarter of one percentage point (0.25%) of the total cost of production for pigs, which comes out at around a third of a penny (0.35p) per kg of pig produced in the UK. This is based on the 2017 antibiotic usage figures for UK pigs (supplied by AHDB’s electronic medicine book) alongside the costed breakdown of products, pig production figures for 2017, and AHDB’s benchmarked pig production costs for the same year.

Question 2

What is approximate average costs of antibiotics use in the UK pig farm, measured as a % of total pig production costs?

z.wu@qub.ac.uk · Accepted Answer

This would depend on the size of the farm, but antibiotic treatments, where needed, average out to approximately a quarter of one percentage point (0.25%) of the total cost of production for pigs, which comes out at around a third of a penny (0.35p) per kg of pig produced in the UK. This is based on the 2017 antibiotic usage figures for UK pigs (supplied by AHDB’s electronic medicine book) alongside the costed breakdown of products, pig production figures for 2017, and AHDB’s benchmarked pig production costs for the same year.