Antibiotics · Prescription (Rx)
Penicillin G procaine withdrawal time for cattle
penicillin G procaine — PenOne Pro, Bactracillin G, many generics. Used for labelled for pneumonia (shipping fever); widely used for foot rot and other infections.
Slaughter withdrawal
14 days
at the label dose — higher doses are extra-label and need a vet-set interval
| Route / formulation | Slaughter withdrawal | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| IM injection at the LABEL dose (1 mL/100 lb once daily) | 14 days | |
| Higher doses or other routes (common in practice) | No U.S. label | Extra-label — veterinarian must set the interval, often 21+ days via FARAD |
Milk & dairy: Milk withhold 48 hours at the label dose.
Penicillin is the most-used and most-misunderstood withdrawal on this list. The 14-day figure on the bottle applies only to the label dose: 1 mL per 100 lb, once a day, IM. Almost nobody doses it that way — most veterinary references consider the label dose sub-therapeutic, and real-world doses run three to five times higher.
Higher doses are legal as extra-label use under a veterinarian, but the 14-day withdrawal no longer applies. FARAD’s published intervals for common elevated penicillin doses run well past the label figure, and penicillin remains one of the most frequent causes of violative residues found at slaughter — usually because someone dosed high and held 14 days. If you use penicillin at more than the label rate, get the withdrawal from your vet, not the bottle.
What the label requires
- Label slaughter withdrawal: 14 days — but ONLY at the label dose of 1 mL/100 lb/day.
- Higher doses (the common practice) are extra-label: your veterinarian sets the interval, typically much longer.
- One of the most common residue violations at slaughter, almost always from high-dose use with a label-length hold.
- Milk withhold 48 hours at label dose; max 10 mL per injection site.
Always follow the label on your bottle and your veterinarian's directions. Extra-label use — any different dose, route, or frequency — voids the withdrawal above; your vet sets the interval instead, usually via FARAD. When in doubt, hold longer. Label data checked July 18, 2026. Source: FDA label (DailyMed).
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Common questions
My vet had me give penicillin at 3× the label dose. Is 14 days enough?
No. The 14-day withdrawal was established for the label dose only. For elevated doses, FARAD recommendations commonly run 21 days or more depending on dose and duration — your veterinarian should give you the specific interval for what you actually gave.
Why is penicillin such a common residue violation?
Because the gap between how it is labeled and how it is used is bigger than for any other cattle drug. High doses with the label’s 14-day hold leave detectable residues, and kidney tissue testing at slaughter finds them. Recording the actual dose per hundredweight is the fix.