Digital solutions for one welfare in grazing beef cattle farming

Summary

The One Welfare concept highlights the interconnectedness of animal welfare, human well-being, and environmental sustainability. Integrating digital technologies into pasture-based beef cattle farming provides practical tools to support this holistic approach. Hungary’s diverse grasslands are increasingly challenged by climate change, calling for more adaptive, pasture-based management. This paper summarises the findings of on-farm studies conducted by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi, Hungary) within the Living Lab framework (ENoLL, 2025). During the research, we applied neck-mounted sensors, meteorological stations, and botanical surveys to enable continuous and detailed monitoring of beef cattle herds and pastures. The sensors provided real-time information on animal health and behaviour and indirectly on pasture conditions, facilitating early problem detection, rapid decision-making, and prevention of overgrazing. Our results show that digital technologies simultaneously improve animal welfare, reduce farmers’ workload, and contribute to the conservation of species-rich grasslands. However, several practical challenges remain – such as sensor reliability and technical limitations – that must be addressed to enable wider application. Nevertheless, precision tools have the potential to play a key role in the practical implementation of the One Welfare principle in sustainable livestock production.