Objective  To investigate the differences in knowledge and attitude about antibiotics use between breeding farmers and crop farmers and to explore factors related to the differences.

  Methods  A total of 780 residents from 12 villages were selected with probability-proportional-to-size sampling in a county of Shandong province. A face-to-face interview was conducted with a questionnaire to collect information about cognition and attitude on antibiotics use among breeding farmers and crop famers; then the differences in the cognition and attitude between the two groups and their influencing were analyzed.

  Results  Compared to those in the crop farmers, higher rates for antibiotics related overall awareness (35.6 % vs. 22.5 %), recognition (33.7 % vs. 16.8 %), basic knowledge (30.7 % vs. 18.5 %) and a higher proportion of expectation for large amount of antibiotics use (31.6 % vs. 18.2 %) were observed in the breeding farmers; the differences were of statistical significance after adjusting for age and education level (P < 0.05 for all), with the odds ratio values of 1.553, 2.199, 1.622, and 1.869, respectively (all P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  The cognition of antibiotics and expectation for large amount of antibiotics usage are higher among breeding farmers than among crop farmers in Shandong province and breeding practice is one of factors influencing the differences between the two groups.