Incorporating positive behavioral indicators into livestock welfare assessment provides a more complete picture of animal welfare state than negative indicators alone.
Welfare assessment that only measures negative indicators — lesions, lameness, stereotypies — tells us about absence of harm but not presence of good welfare. Animals can be free of obvious welfare problems while still not experiencing positive states. Including validated positive behavioral indicators including play, social grooming, and exploration creates a more complete picture of actual welfare quality and identifies opportunities for improvement that negative-only assessment misses.