Overview of poultry welfare benchmarking, including footpad scoring and gait assessment.
Poultry welfare benchmarking through footpad dermatitis scoring and gait assessment provides population-level welfare data that farm-level observation cannot achieve. The EU broiler welfare directive's monitoring requirement creates a legal foundation for footpad benchmarking. Linking slaughter welfare data to farm management data enables root cause analysis and targeted improvement programmes. Extending benchmarking to hatcheries and slaughter provides end-to-end welfare performance data for broiler supply chains.