The study, which researchers at the University of Bristol are coordinating, is part of Arwain DGC – a project designed to help combat antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in animals and the environment in Wales.
Launched last year, Arwain DGC aims to reduce the need to use antimicrobials such as antibiotics by improving productivity, animal health and welfare through new and innovative technology and 'good practice'.
The study is led by Professors Kristen Reyher and Matthew Avison from the University of Bristol, who lead Bristol AMR.
Matthew Avison, Professor of Molecular Bacteriology in Bristol's School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, said: “We hope this work will be used as evidence to recommend to Welsh Government how best to take samples from farms to look at AMR should they ever want to introduce a surveillance system.”
Kristen Reyher, Professor of Veterinary Epidemiology and Population Health at Bristol Veterinary School, added: "Farmers and vets have done so much together in the last few years to ensure they are being good stewards of important medicines like antibiotics. Our work comparing their antibiotic use and other management factors with the AMR we find on farms continues to help us unpick the relationships between what happens on farms and in the environment as well as better understand the selection and transmission of AMR. The Arwain DGC project is a great example of Wales leading the way on providing important information about AMR to the world, and we stand ready to get to work on these data that are now rolling in."