Live animal transport is one of the highest-impact welfare events in livestock production, with duration, vehicle design, and driver training all critical.
Livestock transport welfare is a concentrated welfare challenge because multiple stressors compound across the journey duration: loading, vehicle motion, novel environments, social disruption, temperature extremes, feed and water deprivation, and unloading. Each factor individually stresses animals; combined over many hours, they produce severe welfare impact. The EU regulations set maximum journey times but are undermined by long-distance trade loopholes and inadequate enforcement. Monitoring technology — GPS tracking, automated temperature sensing, and journey time recording — enables more effective regulatory enforcement than physical inspection alone. The welfare case for replacing live animal transport with carcass or meat trade is compelling: most of the transport welfare cost is eliminated when animals are slaughtered near their production location. The political and economic barriers to this transition are substantial but not insurmountable.