Systematic welfare assessment at slaughter provides retrospective welfare data that informs farm management, with standardized protocols enabling meaningful benchmarking.
Post-mortem welfare assessment at slaughter provides uniquely valuable retrospective welfare data - it reveals welfare problems that occurred weeks to months before slaughter that would not be detectable through on-farm inspection. High pleuritis rates indicate respiratory disease burden, liver condemnation indicates parasite problems, tail bite wounds document behavioral welfare failures. This data provides powerful feedback to producers when systematically collected and communicated. Systems that close the loop between slaughter welfare data and farm management enable evidence-based welfare improvement across supply chains.