July 27, 2026 | Source: Sentient Media | by Emily Payne

A cow favors one leg. A chicken breathes with their beak slightly open. A goat spends a little more time lying down, a little less time eating. A pig pins their ears back, or squeals at a higher pitch. All of these subtle changes can signal pain in farm animals before more obvious signs of suffering appear.

But on modern factory farms housing hundreds to tens of thousands of animals, those signals are easily missed.

Researchers and technologists are exploring an emerging technology known as automated pain detection to help farmers identify health problems in animals earlier and relieve their pain faster.

While the technology remains largely experimental for livestock, interest is accelerating. A growing body of research is assessing whether artificial intelligence can recognize pain in farm animals using facial expressions, gait, vocalizations and other behavioral cues. And recently a handful of startups have begun developing commercial applications.