Genomic selection technologies are transforming livestock breeding, with significant implications for animal welfare — both positive, through health-focused breeding, and negative, through production-trait selection that ignores welfare.
Genomic technologies offer a genuine opportunity to breed livestock that are healthier, less prone to disease, and better adapted to their environments. However, without welfare-focused selection criteria, these same tools risk accelerating the trend of breeding animals ever further from their biological optima in favor of production traits. Progressive breeders are incorporating welfare indicators — lameness scores, mastitis rates, calving ease — into selection indices. Consumer and regulatory pressure will be key to ensuring these technologies serve animal interests as well as production targets.