Animal welfare experts participated in the development of animal-based measures that could be used as indicators of welfare status. The objective was to use a Delphi technique to create a consensus among experts about welfare measures about the animal, as opposed to measures about the animal’s environment. The experts responded to two questionnaires. There was consensus among the experts that observations of health status, behaviour and examination of health records would provide ample information about welfare states. This information would indicate how well the animal is coping with the environment and management system in which it lives. The important welfare indicator identified for cattle and pigs was lameness and for laying hens was feather condition. The results of this study assisted in the development of protocols to assess the welfare of dairy cattle, pigs, and laying hens.