The distance livestock travel from farm to abattoir is a major determinant of transport welfare, with longer journeys associated with greater stress, injury, and mortality risk.
The trend toward larger, fewer, and more distant abattoirs has created a systemic welfare problem by lengthening the journeys that livestock must make at the end of their lives. The welfare impacts of transport including stress, injury, dehydration, and mortality increase with journey duration, making proximity to slaughter facilities a welfare benefit that the industry has been steadily eroding. Support for local and small abattoir infrastructure, and the development of mobile slaughter technology for some species, can partially reverse this trend. For species including poultry and pigs that are particularly vulnerable to transport stress, even modest reductions in journey time can deliver meaningful welfare improvements.