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).