Welfare Monitoring Technology on Farms

Emerging sensor, imaging and AI technologies offer new possibilities for continuous, automated monitoring of farm animal welfare at scale.

Key Facts

Accelerometers on livestock can detect lameness, oestrus and rumination patterns with high accuracy
Computer vision systems can identify broiler birds that are lame, injured or dead in real time
Acoustic monitoring can detect pig distress calls and anomalous vocalisation patterns
RFID tagging enables individual animal tracking and automated behaviour analysis
The SMARTBOW system provides continuous monitoring of cattle location, rumination and activity

Welfare Considerations

Precision livestock farming technologies have the potential to dramatically improve welfare by making invisible suffering visible. A farmer checking a broiler house once daily misses welfare problems that develop over hours. Continuous automated monitoring can alert farmers to problems in real time, enabling earlier intervention and reduced suffering duration. However, technology cannot replace genuine welfare commitment - sensors and cameras are tools, not substitutes for a culture of care.

What You Can Do

Support development and adoption of welfare monitoring technology standards
Advocate for welfare monitoring data to be shared with retailers and certification bodies
Encourage farmers to invest in technology that provides early warning of welfare problems
Support research into validated welfare indicators that can be reliably detected by technology
Engage with technology companies to ensure welfare, not just productivity, is a design priority