Precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies — sensors, cameras, AI analysis — offer unprecedented ability to monitor individual animal welfare. Their promise and limitations deserve careful evaluation.
PLF represents a genuine opportunity to improve farm animal welfare at scale by detecting problems earlier, more consistently, and without the variability of human observation fatigue. Early lameness detection means treatment before severe pain develops; respiratory disease alerts prevent slow deterioration; oestrus detection optimises reproductive management. However, technology cannot replace the ethical commitment to act on welfare data — a farm with PLF that generates alerts but does not respond has achieved nothing. The risk that PLF becomes a greenwashing tool — cited as evidence of welfare commitment without translating to welfare improvement — is real. The welfare impact of PLF depends entirely on the institutional culture and resource allocation that accompanies it.