The company on Feb. 26 started eliminating 20 percent of antibiotics deemed important for human medicine and farm animals from its four feed yards in Texas, Kansas and Colorado, according to the company. It is making the same reductions at four feed yards operated by Friona Industries, which supplies Cargill with cattle.

The changes affect about 1.2 million cattle annually, which represents about 18 percent of the cattle Cargill processes, according to the company.

Reuters is reporting that Cargill considered "customer and consumer desires to help ensure the long-term medical effectiveness of antibiotics for both people and animals,” said John Keating, president of Cargill’s beef business.

The company has already phased out medically important antibiotics used for growth promotion in livestock, part of the industry’s implementation of the Veterinary Feed Directive and new guidance documents issued by the Food and Drug Administration.

Read the entire story at Reuters' website.  

—Summarized by Progressive Cattleman staff from cited sources