Farmed Animals

Lairage Welfare: The Hours Before Slaughter

Lairage — holding facilities at abattoirs — represents a critical welfare point where stressed animals must be managed humanely before slaughter.

Key Facts

Animals can spend 2-12 hours in lairage before slaughter depending on processing speed
Mixing unfamiliar animals in lairage causes fighting and significant injury
Lairage conditions including noise, temperature, and light affect cortisol and meat quality simultaneously
CCTV monitoring in lairage is now required in UK abattoirs, improving welfare outcomes

Welfare Considerations

Lairage is the point at which journey stress combines with novel environment, unfamiliar smells, and sometimes conspecific aggression to create maximum welfare challenge. Animals that arrive already stressed from poor transport have fewer resources to cope with lairage conditions. The welfare and commercial case for quiet, spacious, well-staffed lairage aligns — stressed animals produce inferior meat.

What You Can Do

Support local abattoir infrastructure that reduces transport time and improves lairage conditions
Advocate for CCTV monitoring and third-party welfare audit requirements in all slaughterhouses
Choose meat from producers using approved abattoirs with documented welfare standards
Support mandatory lairage welfare standards as part of all meat production certification schemes