Long-distance livestock transport causes significant suffering. Reform efforts focus on reducing journey times, improving vehicle conditions, and shifting to slaughter closer to farms.
Livestock transport combines multiple acute welfare insults: unfamiliar social groupings causing aggression, physical crowding, feed and water deprivation, temperature extremes, motion sickness, and the fear of unfamiliar environments. Long-distance live exports to countries with lower slaughter welfare standards compound these harms. The shift to chilled carcass trade rather than live animal trade eliminates transport welfare harms entirely while preserving economic value for exporters. Progressive regulatory changes in the EU and New Zealand demonstrate that political will can drive transformative welfare improvements.