Antibiotic resistance is a critical issue in public health. Reducing the volume of antibiotics used in animal agriculture has long been advocated to limit the spread of antibiotic resistant pathogens, or the dissemination of horizontally transferable genetic determinants of resistance. Yet, antibiotics are necessary to treat and prevent bacterial infections in livestock. On dairy farms, producers make most routine decisions on when to initiate antibiotic therapy; therefore, the advocated reductions in antibiotic use from current levels will require changes in producer treatment behaviors. Many surveys of livestock producers, however, show a consistent doubt about public health impact of antibiotic use in agriculture. For instance, the majority (58%) of conventional dairy producers disagreed that antibiotic use in agriculture led to resistant bacterial infections in people. Likewise, 88% of beef producers believed that antibiotic use in the beef industry contributes little or nothing to antibiotic resistance in general. Undeniably, the relative contribution of veterinary antibiotic use to the incidence of resistant infections in people is unknown, though not zero. By contrast, consumer surveys and purchasing behaviors indicate substantial concern about the use of antibiotics in livestock. For instance, a survey of the general public showed that most (60%) of people agreed with the statement that “The use of antibiotics for livestock leads to resistant bacteria in meat that can make people sick.” Other literature showed that consumers support the idea of antibiotics for the treatment of disease, but are unsupportive application of antibiotics to healthy animals. Clearly, consumers are not likely to be well-informed on the complexity of antibiotic resistance, and may not distinguish the overlapping but distinct issues of antibiotic residues and of antibiotic resistance. Nonetheless, the evolving consumer attitudes and changing purchasing behaviors are likely to continue to influence antibiotic treatment practices. Sustainable dairy production will require a proactive and holistic approach toward antibiotic stewardship to meet consumer expectations.