In other words, what matters ethically in livestock production is not
only the choice of a technology or system fulfilling certain standards;
also, the farmer’s management of this technology or system plays a significant
role. Thus, from an ethical point of view, there is good reason to
engage individual farmers in considering how the combined effects of
their production system and production practice affect the animals and the
environment. This is the main motivation behind the idea of developing a
system of “ethical accounting” for individual farms