Farmed animals show behavioural and physiological responses to the loss of social companions that share features with grief, with implications for herd management and welfare practice.
Grief and loss responses in farmed animals are increasingly recognised as welfare-significant beyond the acute separation event. The persistence of distress behaviours over days indicates that the welfare impact of companion loss extends well beyond immediate separation. Managing the loss of companions — through gradual relationship dissolution, providing substitute social contact, or allowing natural social recovery within the group — can reduce the welfare impact. The existence of grief-like responses also raises ethical questions about routine management practices including weaning, regrouping, and culling of companions from established social groups.