Moving beyond the absence of suffering to documenting positive welfare states in cattle requires attention to positive indicators including play behavior, social bonding, and exploratory behavior.
Cattle welfare has historically been assessed through the absence of negative states - disease, injury, and fear. Positive welfare science asks a different question: are animals experiencing positive states including pleasure, curiosity, and contentment? Cattle exhibit clear positive emotional indicators when given space, social opportunities, and environmental complexity - states that good husbandry should actively promote.