On-farm mortality rates are among the most objective indicators of livestock welfare. Systematic monitoring and benchmarking of mortality drives improvement across the industry.
On-farm mortality is the most objective and consistently recorded indicator of livestock welfare, yet it is underused as a welfare monitoring tool. Every animal death represents a welfare failure — an animal that experienced disease, injury, or physiological distress severe enough to cause death. The variation in mortality rates between farms of similar type and size is substantial, indicating that management factors rather than inevitable biology drive much of the difference. Farm assurance schemes and veterinary health plans that systematically benchmark mortality against comparable farms and require investigation of high mortality episodes would identify welfare problems early and drive improvement across the sector.