Genetics and Livestock Welfare: Breeding for Better Lives

Genetic selection criteria that include welfare traits create animals with fewer inherent welfare vulnerabilities, reducing suffering across entire populations.

Key Facts

Mastitis resistance traits are included in dairy cattle selection indices in progressive breeding programs
Leg health traits are being incorporated into broiler breeding programs under consumer pressure
Longevity as a selection trait correlates with better health and welfare across production species
Feather pecking tendency has heritable components that selective breeding can reduce
Welfare-inclusive breeding programs require welfare trait recording which is a current bottleneck

Welfare Considerations

Genetic welfare improvement is the upstream intervention that reduces welfare problems for all animals of a breed rather than requiring individual management interventions. Selecting for mastitis resistance means fewer cows develop mastitis; selecting for better leg health means fewer chickens suffer lameness. The challenge is defining welfare traits in ways that are heritable, measurable, and economically feasible to record. Investment in welfare trait recording infrastructure creates compounding welfare improvement over generations.

What You Can Do

Support research into welfare trait definition and recording in livestock breeding programs
Advocate for welfare traits to be weighted in national livestock selection indices
Choose animal products from breeds with documented welfare trait inclusion in selection
Donate to genetic welfare improvement research across major livestock species