How regular body weight and condition scoring provides essential welfare information for livestock and enables proactive management.
Regular weight monitoring and body condition scoring are welfare management tools that enable farmers to detect problems before they become severe. A cow losing body condition rapidly is experiencing metabolic stress that will progress to disease if not addressed. Pigs with poor growth rates may have underlying disease or social competition for feed. Condition scoring provides objective assessment that removes the subjective 'this animal looks fine' assessment that can miss subtle but significant welfare problems. Simple, regular monitoring provides the data needed for proactive welfare management.