Coming soon to a feed store near you - No more animal antibiotics for sale

Supposedly the FDA has a new voluntary program that is getting rid of antibiotics used in animal feed and in drinking water.  Now I don't want to get into it with people as to whether the use of these antibiotics is the source of all our antimicrobial resistance issues we face.  All I know is that the FDA is now making this "voluntary" to remove them from the feed.  But we all know that voluntary doesn't really mean voluntary.  The FDA has now decreed that the antibiotics for animals are to go from over-the-counter (OTC) to prescription by a veterinarian. 

What does this mean to me?  Right now I can order "animal" antibiotics on-line or even purchase them at the local feed store.  In three years, this will be phased out.  Animal antibiotics, that can also be used for people, won't be easily (or cheaply - have you noticed they are much less expensive for the animals than they are for people) available.  Now this is supposed to be in effect for meat animals including chickens, cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, etc.  I assume that "fish" meds are still going to be available.  But who knows.  The far reaching FDA may ban that as well, after all, we eat fish too. 

If the final ban takes place in three years, I'm sure it will be phased out and unavailable much sooner.  It's time to make sure we are stocked up.  It's also time to do more research to see how long these meds will last in our storage program.