“Good animal welfare practices include prevention and treatment of diseases and injuries and mitigation of pain” (FAO, 2008).

Although the scientific study of livestock welfare has emerged over the last two decades in response to concerns about intensive production systems, methods used to measure the welfare of animals objectively using scientific criteria, can be applied to extensive and traditional farming systems as well. Livestock production systems in most parts of Africa vary from highly intensive to extensive, from highly profitable commercial enterprises to subsistence agriculture, from farms that are thousands of hectares in size to small scale ventures on a few acres, or communally owned land.