Precision livestock farming uses technology to monitor individual animals continuously. This approach creates opportunities for welfare improvement at scale.
Precision livestock farming offers a transformative welfare opportunity: the ability to detect welfare problems in individual animals early, at scale, without relying on the limited time and observational capacity of farm staff. An AI system that continuously monitors all cows for lameness gait patterns detects problems days before a farmer's twice-daily walk-through would. Early detection enables early treatment — dramatically reducing the duration of pain and suffering from conditions like lameness, mastitis, and respiratory disease. The welfare potential of PLF is substantial but depends on the monitoring being connected to responsive action: detection without treatment does not improve welfare. As PLF costs decline, these technologies are becoming accessible to smaller operations, expanding the welfare impact beyond large industrial farms.