Live cattle transport involves millions of animals crossing long distances annually. The journey causes significant welfare costs including stress, injury, exhaustion, and disease — prompting calls for reform.
Cattle transport welfare is compromised at multiple points: loading, the journey itself, unloading, and lairage before slaughter. Loading causes acute fear and physical injury from falls, collisions, and electrical prod use. During transport, cattle cannot maintain balance easily in moving vehicles — fatigue accumulates and vulnerable animals suffer falls and trampling. Mixing unfamiliar animals in transport vehicles causes aggression. Long-distance live export by ship exposes cattle to weeks of confinement with high ammonia levels, disease risk, and heat stress that causes suffering on an enormous scale. The welfare-optimal alternative — slaughtering animals closer to origin and transporting chilled meat — is economically and politically resisted by exporting countries. Multiple countries have introduced restrictions on live export following documented welfare failures.