Translating positive welfare science into practical on-farm assessment tools is a key challenge, with Qualitative Behaviour Assessment emerging as one of the most accessible approaches.
The shift toward measuring positive welfare in farm settings requires accessible tools that producers can apply without specialist equipment. QBA - assessing the overall emotional quality of animal groups using descriptors like 'playful', 'relaxed', or 'tense' - provides a practical approach that captures the welfare state of entire groups rapidly. Farms with high positive welfare scores show lower rates of tail-biting and other negative welfare indicators, validating the approach as a practical production tool.