Long-distance livestock transport causes significant welfare suffering. Evidence-based reforms including journey time limits, mobile slaughter, and improved transport standards can dramatically reduce this harm.
Livestock transport causes welfare harm through fear, crowding, temperature extremes, physical injury, and the disruption of established social groups. The journey from farm to slaughter can be one of the most welfare-compromising experiences of a farm animal life, particularly when it involves long distances, multiple loading and unloading events, and poor vehicle design. The welfare solution involves multiple layers: shorter journey time limits that reduce accumulative stress, better vehicle standards that improve conditions within journeys, and mobile slaughter units that eliminate transport entirely for some animals. The economic argument for long-distance live animal transport — cheaper than transporting carcasses — does not adequately account for the welfare costs borne by the animals transported.