Bovine Welfare Indicators: Measurement Science 2025

Key Welfare Facts

Animal-based welfare indicators measure welfare outcomes directly from the animal rather than resource provision alone.
Welfare Quality assessment protocols use 12 welfare measures grouped into 4 principles for objective scoring.
Body condition score, cleanliness, and lameness are among the most reliable and practical farm welfare measures.
Fear response testing through approach tests provides non-invasive assessment of human-animal relationship quality.
Positive welfare indicators including play behaviour and exploratory activity are increasingly incorporated in assessments.
Automated precision welfare tools using sensors, cameras, and AI are enabling continuous herd-level monitoring.

Welfare Assessment

Animal-based welfare indicator science is advancing rapidly, enabling more objective and consistent welfare assessment across farms. Supporting adoption of standardised welfare auditing and precision welfare tools drives evidence-based improvement at farm level.

What You Can Do

Support farm assurance schemes that use validated animal-based welfare indicators in audits
Advocate for standardised welfare auditing protocols based on Welfare Quality methodology
Choose dairy and beef products from farms with independently verified welfare outcome scores
Support research into precision welfare technologies enabling continuous automated monitoring