Animal welfare science has shifted from a focus on minimising suffering toward actively promoting positive experiences, with growing evidence that positive states are achievable and measurable in farmed animals.
The shift toward positive welfare as a goal — not merely the absence of suffering — represents a fundamental advance in welfare science and practice. Positive welfare states including playfulness, curiosity, relaxed social interactions, and exploratory behaviour are not merely the absence of stress but active emotional states with distinct neurological correlates. Enabling positive welfare requires more than removing painful procedures or disease: it requires environments, management systems, and human interactions that enable animals to express their full behavioural repertoire and experience pleasure, engagement, and comfort.