The costs, benefits and ethics of providing different levels of animal welfare in livestock production.

• Intensive farming is less ethical than free range farming due to poorer animal welfare.

• Free range requires more land and is more labour intensive but can be sold at a higher price and animals have a better quality of life.

• Intensive farming often creates conditions of poor animal welfare but is often more cost effective, generating higher profit as costs are low.

Behavioural indicators of poor animal welfare are:

•  stereotypy, 

• misdirected behaviour, 

• failure in sexual or parental behaviour and 

• altered levels of activity.

• Very low (apathy) or very high (hysteria) levels of activity.