Cargill officials have announced the company will be phasing out the use of antibiotics as growth promotants in a portion of the cattle they produce. Cargill spokesman Mike Martin says they’re looking at a nearly 20-percent reduction in antibiotics deemed important for human medicine and farm animals.

He says their announcement effects 1.2 million cattle per year from their feed yards in Texas, Kansas and Colorado.

Martin says they’re preparing for the implementation of the Food and Drug Administration’s Veterinary Feed Directive which will phase out antibiotic use to promote gains in livestock.

Cargill is the top meat processor in the United States.