3.2 Practices of antimicrobial usage on beef cattle farms
The significant (p <0.05) practice levels by the beef
cattle farmers are presented in Table 1. On personnel that prescribed
antimicrobials, more than half (54.0%, n=123/228) of the intensive
farmers and over two-third (86.3%, n=328/380) of the semi-intensive
farmers engaged in self-prescription of antimicrobials used on beef
cattle production. Majorities of the intensive farmers (48.6%,
n=111/228) purchased antimicrobials used on the animals from the
veterinary drug shops, while 48.7% (n=185/380) of the semi-intensive
farmers patronized the animal drug hawkers. In addition, majorities of
the intensive farmers (68.4%, n=156/228) and semi-intensive farmers
(58.2%, n=221/380) practiced self administering of antimicrobials on
animals without technical knowledge of drug administration. More than
two-thirds of the intensive (78.9%, n=180/228) and semi-intensive
(76.6%, n=291/380) farmers do not followed instructions on
antimicrobial dosage before usage. Also, more than two-thirds of the
intensive (72.4%, n=165/228) and semi-intensive (83.9.6%, n=319/380)
farmers do not observed withdrawal period after AMU on the animals.
Regarding purpose for AMU in beef farms, more than two-third of the
intensive farmers (71.5%, n=163/228) and over half of the
semi-intensive farmers (53.2%, n=202/380) used the drugs for growth
promotion on beef cattle (Table 1).