The Happy Farmer Framework: An Integrated Tool for Assessing Welfare in Cattle Farming

The article reviews the development and structure of the Happy Farmer Framework, an integrated assessment tool designed by the French veterinary laboratory Obione to evaluate cattle welfare. It describes how the framework combines animal-based indicators, farmer working conditions, and overall system performance, reporting its empirical construction from studies with high-performing cattle farmers. The review compares this approach with established international frameworks such as Welfare Quality®, highlighting methodological strengths, reproducibility challenges, and practical limitations. It also discusses the framework’s contributions to participatory livestock welfare assessment, potential areas for refinement, and its alignment with current societal, scientific, and professional expectations.