Livestock Mortality Rates as Welfare Indicators

On-farm mortality rates provide a simple, powerful welfare indicator — high death rates signal systemic welfare problems that need urgent attention.

Key Facts

UK broiler mortality averages around 3-4% over a 35-day cycle; rates above 5% indicate significant welfare problems
Dairy cow mortality has increased as yields have risen; UK rates average 4-5% per year
Pig mortality from birth to slaughter averages 15-20% in conventional systems
Mortality rate benchmarking allows farms to compare performance against industry norms
Mortality is an outcome measure that integrates disease, management, and housing quality into a single metric

Welfare Considerations

Mortality rate is one of the most direct welfare indicators available — dead animals are the clearest evidence that welfare has failed. High mortality signals disease, inadequate housing, poor nutrition, or management failures. Benchmarking mortality against industry norms allows identification of outlier farms that need urgent intervention. Declining mortality rates over time indicate genuine welfare improvement. The challenge is that industry-average mortality rates are themselves often too high — improving on a poor baseline is not sufficient. Absolute mortality targets should be based on what is achievable with good management, not on what is common.

What You Can Do

Support certification schemes that include absolute mortality targets rather than just industry averages
Advocate for mandatory mortality reporting as a welfare outcome measure in farm assurance
Choose products from farms with documented low mortality rates
Support research into the preventable causes of livestock mortality in different production systems
Engage with mortality benchmarking as a tool for identifying and targeting welfare improvements