Emergency on-farm slaughter is necessary when animals are too injured or ill to transport, and the welfare of emergency killing methods varies greatly.
Animals requiring emergency slaughter face the welfare risk of poorly executed killing by inadequately trained operators. Pain from injury or illness preceding emergency slaughter compounds the stress of the killing process. Mass killing methods used during disease outbreak control are frequently less reliable than individual slaughter. Training programs and equipment access significantly reduce the risk of animals experiencing distress during emergency killing.