Dr. Stan Curtis, PhD, retired researcher from the University of Illinois speaking at the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s Fifth Annual Stakeholders Summit cited multiple research trials using performance measures as an indicator of an animal’s state of being.
Dr. Curtis stated that, in the absence of any scientific measures of welfare, the best indicator of the animal’s state of being will be its rates of productive and reproductive performance relative to its predicted potential to perform. He expressed criticism of some research studies that overemphasize behavioral and physiological indicators that ”are difficult to impossible to measure, interpret, or both, in terms of the amount of any associated suffering the animals might be experiencing."
Source:
Animal Agriculture Alliance