Welfare Science

Farm Animal Welfare Metrics Standardisation Advanced

Standardising animal welfare metrics across farms, species, and countries is essential to enable comparison, accountability, and evidence-based improvement.

Key Facts

Current welfare assessment schemes use different metrics, scales, and weighting systems
Standardisation would allow genuine comparison between farm systems and countries
Welfare Quality and AWIN frameworks have advanced standardisation but adoption is fragmented
Digital data collection is enabling more consistent metric capture at scale
Harmonised metrics are a prerequisite for meaningful welfare benchmarking and reporting

Welfare Considerations

Without standardised metrics, welfare claims cannot be verified or compared; metric standardisation is foundational to a credible, accountable animal welfare system.

What You Can Do

Support research organisations developing standardised welfare metrics
Advocate for adoption of common frameworks in assurance and certification schemes
Use standardised metrics in any animal welfare reporting or advocacy work