Farmed Animals

One Welfare Approaches to Livestock Management

One Welfare integrates animal welfare, farmer wellbeing, and environmental sustainability as interconnected dimensions of farming system quality.

Key Facts

Farmer mental health significantly affects stockperson-animal interaction quality
Welfare improvements often deliver co-benefits for farm economics and environmental performance
Disease prevention improvements from welfare investment benefit both animals and farmers
One Welfare is promoted by the World Organisation for Animal Health as a framework
Integrated policy approaches that support farmers enable welfare investment

Welfare Considerations

One Welfare recognises that sustainable improvement in animal welfare requires supporting the humans who care for animals. Farmers experiencing poor mental health, financial stress, or isolation are less able to maintain high welfare standards and invest in welfare improvements. Integrated support that addresses farmer wellbeing alongside animal welfare and environmental sustainability provides more durable improvements than welfare-focused interventions alone.

What You Can Do

Support farmer wellbeing programs and rural mental health resources
Advocate for integrated policy approaches that link animal welfare improvement to farmer support
Raise awareness about One Welfare as a framework for understanding farming system quality
Choose food products that support fair farmer returns as well as high welfare
Support research into the relationships between farmer wellbeing and animal welfare outcomes