Q Check: Systematic Animal Welfare Monitoring - from farm-level to national-level monitoring

Since 2014, all German livestock farmers are required by law to execute on-farm self-assessments to monitor animal welfare and to assess and evaluate animal-based indicators (in order to monitor whether housing conditions meet the needs of the animals). • A large amount of data pertaining to dairy farms is already being standardised and collected on a regular basis; in our joint research project we selected valid indicators for dairy cow health. • The Q Check report summarizes the data, offers a good way for farmers to monitor the general health situation on their farms, and helps with herd management. • The data not only facilitates internal monitoring on farms but can also (anonymized and collected on a national scale) provide a reliable picture of the animal welfare situation in Germany as a whole.