Farmed Animals

Composite Welfare Indices for Livestock Assessment

Composite welfare indices combine multiple indicators into a single score that enables comparison and tracking of welfare performance over time.

Key Facts

Welfare Quality developed composite welfare assessment protocols for multiple livestock species
Indices combine health, behaviour, nutrition, and housing measures into overall scores
Composite indices allow comparison between farms and tracking of improvement over time
Weighting of different welfare domains within indices reflects scientific and ethical priorities
Indices have been adopted by some retailers and assurance schemes as audit requirements

Welfare Considerations

Composite welfare indices provide a practical tool for summarising complex, multi-dimensional welfare performance into a format useful for benchmarking and decision-making. By combining validated measures across health, behaviour, nutrition, and housing, indices capture welfare more comprehensively than single indicators. Their adoption by retailers and assurance schemes has driven farm-level welfare improvement.

What You Can Do

Support welfare assurance schemes that use composite welfare indices
Advocate for standardised welfare index adoption across livestock sectors
Raise awareness about composite welfare assessment as a meaningful welfare quality indicator
Support research into improved weighting and integration of welfare indicators in indices
Encourage retailer supply chain requirements to include composite welfare index reporting