Transport is one of the most stressful experiences in a farm animal's life. Understanding the welfare challenges and minimum standards helps drive improvement.
Farm animal transport combines multiple stressors — social disruption, unfamiliar environment, motion, noise, and temperature variation — in ways that challenge even healthy, well-conditioned animals. The cumulative welfare impact of long transport journeys is substantial, and the evidence from scientific studies of stress physiology during and after transport is clear. The gap between what regulations require and what actually occurs during transport is significant in many cases — enforcement capacity is limited and journeys are difficult to monitor continuously. Technology including GPS tracking, temperature logging, and driver recording systems provides tools for better monitoring, but political will to enforce standards meaningfully is equally important. The most welfare-positive approach is reducing transport distances through local slaughter infrastructure.