Livestock Genetic Selection Welfare Traits

Incorporating animal welfare traits into livestock breeding programmes offers long-term structural improvements in animal health and resilience across entire populations.

Key Facts

Genetic selection has inadvertently created welfare problems by prioritising production over health traits
Estimated breeding values (EBVs) for health traits including mastitis resistance and foot health are now routine in cattle
Norwegian Red and other dual-purpose breeds demonstrate that welfare and production traits can be bred together
Genomic selection technologies allow faster incorporation of welfare traits into breeding programmes
The Holstein breed shows significantly higher disease rates than breeds not selected purely for milk yield
Pig breeding companies are beginning to incorporate leg health and reproductive longevity in selection indices
Resistance to common diseases including respiratory illness and mastitis has significant heritability

Welfare Considerations

Genetic selection shapes the baseline welfare of entire livestock populations. Selection decisions made today determine the health, resilience, and welfare of billions of animals over the coming decades. Incorporating welfare traits explicitly into breeding indices creates structural welfare improvements that no amount of husbandry intervention can fully compensate for when genetics are fundamentally unsound.

What You Can Do

Support breed associations and companies that incorporate welfare traits in their selection indices
Advocate for welfare trait EBVs to be publicly available and incorporated in breeding programme guidance
Choose producers who select breeds and genetic lines with positive health and welfare traits
Support research into genomic selection for welfare-relevant traits in major livestock species
Engage with industry debates about the balance between production and welfare traits in breeding