Animal welfare science is increasingly focused not just on preventing negative states but on actively promoting positive experiences. Positive welfare for livestock includes opportunities for play, exploration, curiosity, and social bonding.
A welfare system that only prevents suffering but does not enable positive experiences delivers less than animals need to flourish. Animals are capable of positive emotional states including satisfaction, curiosity, playfulness, and social bonding — and enabling these states is a legitimate welfare goal. In commercial livestock production, positive welfare requires going beyond the minimum standards that prevent the most obvious suffering. Enriched environments, appropriate social groups, choice and control where possible, and opportunities for species-specific behaviors all contribute to positive welfare states that are both intrinsically valuable and observable through behavioral indicators.