Assessment of farm animal welfare at herd level: Many goals, many methods

This paper describes and compares nine methods of assessing the welfare of farm animals at herd level. A distinction is made between two types of welfare parameter: the environmental and the animal-based. The relative weight of these parameters, together with variation in their measurability, explains many of the differences between the methods with which the paper is concerned. To discuss the merits of a given method it is necessary to look at the goal it is intended to serve. Some methods compare production systems well. Others are better used in assisting the individual farmer to improve the welfare of animals within his production system.