Pre-slaughter handling causes significant welfare harms through rough handling, long transport, lairage conditions, and the stunning process. Improving these final hours dramatically reduces cattle suffering.
Pre-slaughter cattle welfare encompasses the final hours of an animal life and includes transport, lairage, handling, and the killing process. Each stage has welfare significance. Transport causes motion stress, temperature exposure, and social disruption. Lairage in unfamiliar, noisy environments with strange cattle causes fear. Poorly trained handlers using electric prods and shouting cause acute stress. Stunning failure — where cattle regain consciousness after stunning and before death — represents one of the most serious acute welfare failures in commercial animal production. Temple Grandin research and subsequent facility redesign has demonstrated that curved races, non-slip flooring, and low-stress handling training significantly reduce cattle stress during pre-slaughter handling. The final hours of cattle lives deserve as much welfare attention as any other production stage.