Farmed Animals

Genetic Selection for Livestock Welfare Traits

Incorporating welfare traits into livestock genetic selection programs offers a powerful lever for sustainable welfare improvement.

Key Facts

Breeding value estimation now includes health and functional traits in most major livestock breeding programs
Genomic selection enables faster genetic progress on multiple traits simultaneously
Lameness resistance, mastitis resistance, and longevity are established welfare breeding objectives
Economic indexes that weight welfare traits influence breeder and farmer selection decisions
International cooperation on welfare trait definition and measurement improves global progress

Welfare Considerations

Genetic selection for welfare traits offers a durable approach to welfare improvement that compounds over generations. Unlike management interventions, genetic improvements are expressed in every individual of the improved generation without ongoing cost. Incorporating disease resistance, functional health, and longevity traits into breeding objectives creates animals that are fundamentally better able to cope with production system demands.

What You Can Do

Support breeding programs that include explicit welfare breeding objectives
Advocate for welfare trait inclusion in economic breeding indexes
Raise awareness about the long-term welfare benefits of genetics-based improvement
Choose products from breeding programs that demonstrate welfare trait selection
Support research into identifying and measuring welfare-relevant genetic variants in livestock