Livestock farming with care (#journal)

Livestock Farming with Care: towards sustainable production of animal-source food

This paper introduces a concept for sustainable production of animal-source food. This concept of “Livestock Farming with Care” is founded on care ethics with an integrated approach based on four principles: One Health (i.e. healthy and safe for animals and humans); Customized Care (i.e. from the individual animal's perspective and integrity); No Nuisance (i.e. from an environmental and societal perspective) and Credible Performance (i.e. from an economic and public prospect). It is acknowledged that the diversity in farming systems ranging from typical smallholder practices to high output production systems requires integrated and customized solutions based on this general concept. Emerging technologies as included in “Precision Livestock Farming” can be beneficial to the implementation.