Selective breeding decisions have profound and long-lasting effects on farm animal welfare, with some commercial breeds selected for traits incompatible with good health.
The genetics of farm animals determine their capacity for welfare across their entire lifetime and across millions of individuals. Breeding decisions made decades ago have embedded welfare problems into commercial livestock populations that continue to cause suffering at industrial scale. Correcting this requires intentional incorporation of welfare traits including leg health, metabolic resilience, and disease resistance into breeding goals alongside productivity. Genomic selection now enables rapid progress when welfare traits are prioritised. The welfare benefit of improved breeding is durable and self-perpetuating across generations.