Recent concern about farm animal welfare has centred on the impact of intensive environments and management practices on the animal. For instance, there has been much concern over the use of close confinement systems (e.g. battery cages or sow stalls) and the perceived negative outcomes of these, including development of abnormal behaviour, stress and resulting physical disease or poor health. However, this emphasis on the physical environment is changing, with greater consideration now being given to animal factors and in particular the selective breeding of farm animals. This is partly because of the growing understanding that genetic selection narrowly focused on production traits may be as significant a factor affecting welfare as the systems in which we manage our farm animals (see Lawrence et al (2004) for a more comprehensive review). However, it is important to note that reduced welfare is not a necessary consequence of selective breeding, and indeed animal breeding may have potential to enhance welfare (e.g. Jones and Hocking, 1999). In this paper we use examples from our own research on dairy cattle, sheep and pigs to illustrate positive and practical contributions that selective breeding can make to reducing welfare problems by creating more balanced breeding programmes or providing tools to address welfare problems.