Beyond Daily Observations
Observations document what you see day-to-day. Health assessments systematise welfare evaluation. Creating structured, repeatable, comparable assessments measuring animal wellbeing objectively.
While observations capture "this animal is limping today," health assessments answer "how is this animal's overall welfare?" with quantifiable scores tracking trends over time.
The Five-Domain Welfare Framework
Kora uses the Five-Domain Model. An internationally recognised animal welfare assessment framework. Evaluating wellbeing across five interconnected domains.
Understanding the Five Domains
The Five-Domain Model recognises that animal welfare emerges from physical conditions creating mental experiences. Domains 1-4 are physical. Domain 5 is mental. Each domain contributes to overall welfare state.
Domain 1: Nutrition Assesses nutritional needs and feeding state.
Evaluates:
- Water access (adequate, clean, accessible)
- Feed quality (appropriate diet, nutritious, sufficient quantity)
- Body condition (ideal weight, not under or overweight)
Example indicators:
- Water available 24/7 in clean troughs
- Feed meets nutritional requirements for species or life stage
- Body condition score 3/5 (ideal for species)
Poor nutrition indicators:
- Limited water access
- Low-quality feed or insufficient quantity
- Body condition too thin or obese
Excellent nutrition indicators:
- Unlimited clean water
- Species-appropriate high-quality feed
- Ideal body condition maintained
Domain 2: Environment Assesses physical environment and living conditions.
Evaluates:
- Space (adequate room for natural movement and behaviours)
- Shelter (appropriate protection from weather or elements)
- Substrate (comfortable flooring or bedding)
- Temperature (thermal comfort for species)
Example indicators:
- Sufficient space for lying, standing, moving freely
- Shelter available for weather extremes
- Dry, comfortable bedding
- Temperature within species comfort range
Poor environment indicators:
- Overcrowding, restricted movement
- No weather protection
- Wet, uncomfortable substrate
- Temperature extremes causing stress
Excellent environment indicators:
- Ample space with enrichment
- Quality shelter always accessible
- Clean, dry, comfortable bedding
- Climate-controlled or species-appropriate conditions
Domain 3: Health Assesses physical health and absence of disease or injury.
Evaluates:
- Visible injuries (absence of wounds, lameness, physical trauma)
- Disease signs (no symptoms of illness)
- Preventive care (vaccinations current, routine care up-to-date)
Example indicators:
- No visible injuries or lesions
- No coughing, discharge, or illness signs
- Vaccinations and preventive treatments current
Poor health indicators:
- Visible injuries or wounds
- Signs of illness (respiratory, digestive, systemic)
- Preventive care overdue or neglected
Excellent health indicators:
- Perfect physical condition, no injuries
- No disease signs present
- Comprehensive preventive care programme maintained
Domain 4: Behaviour Assesses behavioural expression and species-appropriate activities.
Evaluates:
- Natural behaviours (animals can perform species-typical behaviours)
- Social interactions (positive relationships, appropriate social structure)
- Abnormal behaviours (absence of stereotypies, aggression, anxiety)
Example indicators:
- Animals exhibit grazing, foraging, playing, grooming (species-normal)
- Positive social interactions (affiliative behaviours, stable hierarchies)
- No stereotypic pacing, self-harm, excessive aggression
Poor behaviour indicators:
- Restricted behaviour expression (cannot perform natural activities)
- Social dysfunction (isolation, excessive aggression, fear)
- Stereotypic behaviours present (pacing, weaving, self-mutilation)
Excellent behaviour indicators:
- Full range of natural behaviours observed
- Positive social dynamics, cohesive groups
- No abnormal or stress-related behaviours
Domain 5: Mental State Assesses emotional wellbeing and psychological state.
Evaluates:
- Positive emotions (curiosity, playfulness, contentment visible)
- Environmental engagement (interacting with environment, alert, responsive)
- Responsiveness to caretakers (positive human-animal interactions)
Example indicators:
- Animals show curiosity, explore environment
- Playful behaviours observed (especially juveniles)
- Calm, responsive to familiar caretakers
Poor mental state indicators:
- Apathy, dull, unresponsive
- Fear, anxiety, hypervigilance
- Withdrawn, avoiding interaction
Excellent mental state indicators:
- Bright, alert, engaged with environment
- Frequent positive emotional expressions
- Confident, relaxed around caretakers
How the Five Domains Work Together
Physical domains (Nutrition, Environment, Health, Behaviour) create conditions. These produce mental experiences (Domain 5).
Example interconnection:
- Good nutrition (Domain 1) supports health (Domain 3)
- This enables natural behaviours (Domain 4)
- Creates contentment (Domain 5)
Or conversely:
- Poor environment (Domain 2) causes stress
- Reduces behavioural expression (Domain 4)
- Produces negative mental state (Domain 5)
Assessing all five domains provides complete welfare picture. Not just physical health alone.
Health Scoring System
Each domain receives a score. Typically 1-5 scale:
1 equals Poor - Severe welfare deficits, immediate intervention required
2 equals Fair - Notable welfare concerns, improvement needed
3 equals Good - Acceptable welfare, minor improvements possible
4 equals Very Good - High welfare standard, few issues
5 equals Excellent - Optimal welfare, best practice standard
Overall welfare score calculated from domain scores. May use average or weighted calculation.
Example assessment:
- Nutrition: 4 (Very Good - clean water, quality feed, ideal body condition)
- Environment: 3 (Good - adequate space and shelter, bedding could be improved)
- Health: 5 (Excellent - no injuries, no illness, preventive care current)
- Behaviour: 4 (Very Good - natural behaviours observed, positive social interactions)
- Mental: 4 (Very Good - alert, engaged, responsive)
- Overall Score: 4.0 (Very Good Welfare)
This quantitative approach makes welfare comparable over time and across animals.
Welfare Status Classifications
Overall scores translate to welfare status:
Excellent Welfare (4.5-5.0): Optimal welfare state, best practice standards met or exceeded
Good Welfare (3.5-4.4): Acceptable welfare, animal needs met with room for improvement
Fair Welfare (2.5-3.4): Welfare concerns present, improvements needed to meet best practice
Poor Welfare (1.0-2.4): Significant welfare deficits, urgent intervention required
Status classifications communicate welfare state clearly to all stakeholders.
Conducting Health Assessments
Assessment Types
Manual assessments: Staff or veterinarians conduct structured evaluations. Scoring each domain based on observation and examination.
Automated assessments: System analyses collected data (observations, weight records, treatments, environmental data). Generates health scores automatically.
Comprehensive assessments: Combine manual evaluation with automated data analysis. For complete welfare picture.
Manual Assessment Workflow (Conceptual)
- Select animal
- Initiate health assessment
- Evaluate each domain systematically:
- Nutrition: Check water access, feed quality, body condition → Score 1-5
- Environment: Assess space, shelter, substrate, temperature → Score 1-5
- Health: Examine for injuries, disease signs, verify preventive care → Score 1-5
- Behaviour: Observe behavioural repertoire, social interactions, abnormalities → Score 1-5
- Mental: Evaluate engagement, positive emotions, responsiveness → Score 1-5
- For each domain, add specific observations and improvement recommendations
- System calculates overall score from domain scores
- Add general notes and recommendations
- Flag for follow-up if needed (set follow-up date)
- Save assessment
Time required: 5-15 minutes depending on assessment depth
Assessment appears:
- On animal profile (Animal Welfare Card showing latest score)
- In health assessment history (all assessments over time)
- In welfare trend graphs (scores plotted over time showing improvement or decline)
Automated Health Assessments (Conceptual)
System monitors multiple health indicators continuously. Generates health scores automatically.
Indicators monitored:
- Weight trends: Rapid weight loss or gain triggers alerts
- Treatment frequency: Multiple treatments suggest health issues
- Observation patterns: High-severity observations increase risk score
- Biosecurity status: Quarantine status, disease exposure affects health score
- Environmental data: Temperature extremes, housing changes
- Behavioural flags: Abnormal behaviour observations
Automated scoring:
- System analyses indicators across time period (weekly, monthly)
- Calculates health status scores (Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, Critical)
- Generates automated health assessment report
- Flags animals with declining scores
- Creates tasks for animals requiring attention
Example automated assessment:
- Animal: Daisy
- Assessment Period: Last 7 days
- Weight: Stable (no concerns)
- Treatments: 1 treatment (antibiotic for laminitis)
- Observations: 3 observations (initial lameness, follow-up x2 showing improvement)
- Biosecurity: Clear (no quarantine)
- Behaviour: No abnormal behaviour flags
- Automated Health Status: Good (treatment underway, improving trend, no other concerns)
- Follow-up: Continue monitoring lameness recovery
Weekly automated assessments:
- System runs assessments automatically every week
- Reports generated showing health status changes
- Alerts for animals transitioning from Good to Fair or Fair to Poor
- Proactive intervention before crises develop
Automated Risk Alerts
Health assessment systems generate alerts when concerning patterns emerge.
Alert Types
Declining welfare alerts:
- Animal's welfare score drops significantly (e.g., Excellent to Good to Fair)
- Triggers investigation: "What is causing decline?"
- Prompts intervention before further deterioration
Health risk alerts:
- Multiple high-severity observations in short period
- Rapid weight loss
- Frequent treatments without improvement
- Suggests serious health issue requiring veterinary consultation
Environmental alerts:
- Environmental scores declining (shelter damage, overcrowding, substrate issues)
- Prompts facility maintenance or management changes
Behavioural alerts:
- Abnormal behaviours appearing in assessments
- Social problems emerging
- Suggests enrichment needs or social restructuring
Biosecurity alerts:
- Animal transitions to quarantine
- Disease exposure detected
- Health monitoring intensifies automatically
How Alerts Work
Alert generation:
- Automated system detects concerning pattern
- Alert created with severity level (Low, Medium, High, Critical)
- Task auto-generated (assign to appropriate staff)
- Notification sent to responsible personnel
- Alert appears on dashboards and animal profiles
Alert response:
- Staff review alert details
- Investigate underlying cause
- Take corrective action (veterinary consult, environmental improvement, management change)
- Document action taken
- Mark alert resolved or escalate if needed
Example alert workflow:
- Automated assessment detects: Daisy's welfare score dropped from 4.5 to 3.2 in 2 weeks
- Alert: "Declining Welfare - Daisy (Cow #A123) - Investigate"
- Task created: "Welfare investigation - Daisy" (assigned to farm manager)
- Manager reviews: Recent lameness (being treated), environment score dropped (shelter damage during storm)
- Actions: Continue lameness treatment, repair shelter (creates maintenance task)
- Follow-up assessment: 1 week (verify improvement)
- Outcome: Shelter repaired, lameness resolved, welfare score returns to 4.3
- Alert resolved
Automated alerts transform reactive "wait until obvious problem" into proactive "intervene at first decline."
Health Assessment Schedules
Regular assessments track welfare trends over time.
Assessment Frequency Options
Daily assessments: Intensive monitoring for high-risk animals, critical care patients, or during disease outbreaks
Weekly assessments: Standard monitoring for production animals, zoo collections, individual high-value animals
Monthly assessments: Routine monitoring for stable populations, healthy animals
Quarterly assessments: Long-term trend tracking, regulatory compliance documentation
As-needed assessments: Triggered by specific events (new arrival, post-treatment, health concern)
Creating Assessment Schedules (Conceptual)
- Define schedule parameters:
- Frequency (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly)
- Animal type or specific animals (all cattle, breeding stock only, specific individual)
- Assessment type (automated, manual, comprehensive)
- Start date and duration
- System generates scheduled assessment dates
- Reminders sent as assessment dates approach
- Staff conduct assessments on schedule
- Historical data accumulates showing welfare trends
Example schedule:
- Schedule: "Weekly Welfare Assessments - All Breeding Cattle"
- Frequency: Weekly (every Monday)
- Type: Manual comprehensive assessment
- Start: Today, ongoing
- Automated reminders: Sunday evening ("Breeding cattle welfare assessments due tomorrow")
Scheduled assessments ensure consistent welfare monitoring. Replacing ad-hoc "assess when we remember" with systematic protocols.
Welfare Trends and Historical Analysis
Health assessments over time reveal patterns invisible in single snapshots.
Trend Visualisation
Welfare score graphs:
- Line graphs showing overall welfare scores over weeks or months
- Visual trends: improving, stable, declining
- Identify inflection points (when did decline start?)
Domain-specific trends:
- Track individual domain scores separately
- "Nutrition consistently excellent, but environment declining" focuses on housing improvements
- "Health score dropped after severe weather" shows environmental health impact visible
Comparative analysis:
- Compare welfare across animals (which individuals thriving vs struggling?)
- Compare welfare across time periods (welfare better this year vs last year?)
- Identify best practices (which management changes correlated with welfare improvements?)
Using Trends for Management
Seasonal patterns:
- Winter welfare scores lower (environmental stress) plans better winter preparations
- Summer scores higher confirms good warm-weather management
Management intervention evaluation:
- Change feeding programme, nutrition scores improve, intervention validated
- Add enrichment, behaviour scores increase, enrichment working
Early warning system:
- Declining trend detected early (4.2 to 3.9 to 3.6 over 3 weeks)
- Intervene before reaching "Poor" threshold
- Prevent welfare crisis through early action
Best Practices for Health Assessments
Assess regularly: Schedule systematic assessments rather than relying on memory. Or emergencies to trigger evaluation.
Be consistent: Use same scoring criteria across assessments. For comparable data. Train assessors on scoring standards.
Document specifics: Beyond scores, note specific observations in each domain. "Environment: 3/5 - adequate space but bedding wet in northwest corner" is actionable.
Act on results: Assessments revealing deficits should trigger improvement actions. Do not assess without responding to findings.
Track trends: Single assessment is snapshot. Multiple assessments over time reveal welfare trajectory.
Link to other records: Reference observations, treatments, environmental changes in assessment notes. Create connected narrative.
Follow up: Assessments flagged for follow-up need actual follow-up assessments. Verifying improvements.
Use automated assessments wisely: Automated scoring supplements but does not replace direct animal observation. And professional judgement.