Modern welfare science emphasises positive welfare states alongside the absence of suffering, and identifying behavioural indicators of positive experiences transforms how farm animal welfare is assessed.
The shift toward assessing positive welfare states alongside the absence of negative ones represents a fundamental evolution in welfare science and practice. Measuring only the absence of disease, injury, and stress describes the minimum — a welfare floor rather than a welfare aspiration. Evidence that animals experience positive emotions including play, anticipation, and satisfaction provides both the scientific justification and practical tools for assessing when animals are actively thriving rather than merely surviving. Farm assurance systems that incorporate positive welfare indicators as assessment criteria incentivise management that creates genuinely good experiences for animals rather than simply avoiding the worst outcomes. This transforms the welfare goal from harm reduction to positive flourishing.