Developing animal welfare indices at farm level is a major challenge. The aim of our project is to go beyond farm level and develop national animal welfare indices for cattle and pigs intended to monitor changes over time in animal welfare. The indices is based on information from cross sectional farm data and existing databases and animal welfare scores derived from expert opinions. Emphasis is on developing operational and robust protocols for obtaining the needed information in a relatively short time and at low costs but still represent a valid animal welfare outcome.