Transporting cattle over long distances causes significant welfare harms including dehydration, injury, and disease.
Long-distance transport of live cattle causes cumulative welfare harms that cannot be fully mitigated. Dehydration, heat or cold stress, injury from movement on board ships, respiratory disease from close confinement, and the disruption of social groups all compound over the journey duration. The economic case for live export over chilled meat trade is contested — welfare-positive alternatives exist in the form of carcass and chilled meat trade that eliminate transport welfare harms entirely.