Livestock markets — where animals are bought and sold at auction before onward transport or slaughter — are a high-welfare-risk point in the supply chain where mixing, handling, and inadequate facilities cause significant suffering.
Livestock markets represent a welfare pinch point in supply chains: animals concentrated from multiple sources in unfamiliar environments, with variable facilities, often long waits, and handling by multiple people of varying skill. The social stress of unfamiliar animal mixing, the physiological stress of changed environments, and the physical risks of inadequate facilities accumulate over hours. Markets serve important commercial functions and support producer livelihoods, but welfare investment in infrastructure — better flooring, adequate water points, appropriate pen sizing, and shade — delivers measurable welfare improvements that good facilities make achievable. Reducing market throughput through direct farm-to-abattoir sales where commercially feasible further reduces this welfare risk point.