Slaughterhouse welfare monitoring for cattle uses outcome-based indicators to assess whether animals are handled and stunned humanely, with audit systems revealing wide variation in welfare outcomes across facilities.
Slaughter is among the highest-stakes welfare moments in an animal's life, and the outcomes at this stage reflect the cumulative effect of facility design, equipment maintenance, staff training, and management culture. Wide variation in welfare outcomes between facilities demonstrates that high-welfare slaughter is achievable but not automatic. Audit systems work when they use objective, outcome-based indicators rather than input measures alone, and when suppliers face genuine commercial consequences for poor performance. Effective stunning must be verified and re-stunning capacity must be immediately available. The welfare of cattle in the pre-slaughter holding area, lairage, and stunning box depends on low-stress handling, quiet design principles, non-slip flooring, and minimal use of electric prods. Continuous CCTV monitoring with independent review is a powerful welfare lever.