Pig transport to slaughter causes significant stress and mortality. Evidence-based improvements in loading, vehicle design, and journey management reduce this welfare burden.
Pig transport welfare is a scale issue of enormous significance — with tens of millions of pigs transported weekly, even small per-animal welfare improvements translate to massive reductions in aggregate suffering. The loading phase is most welfare-critical: pigs loaded with electric goads show markedly higher cortisol, more injuries, and higher mortality than those loaded using low-stress handling. Well-designed loading facilities, trained handlers using appropriate tools, appropriate vehicle temperature management, and lairage rest periods together dramatically reduce transport welfare impacts. The genetics of some modern lean pig breeds have inadvertently increased stress sensitivity — selection for production traits created animals less physiologically robust under transport stress. Welfare-conscious breeding programs are beginning to address this unintended consequence.