The lairage — holding facility before slaughter — is a critical welfare point that receives insufficient attention.
The lairage — the holding facility where animals wait before slaughter — is a frequently overlooked welfare transition point. Animals that have experienced transport stress arrive at an unfamiliar, noisy environment and are placed in holding pens. Mixing with strangers causes fighting. Inadequate water and food access during extended holds causes deprivation stress. Temperature extremes in lairages cause additional suffering. Pre-slaughter stress also affects meat quality through pH changes — giving lairage welfare improvement an economic justification alongside the welfare case.