Long-distance transport of cattle causes significant welfare harm through physical injury, dehydration, thermal stress, and social disruption.
Cattle transport welfare is compromised at every stage of long journeys: loading causes social disruption and fear, the vehicle environment prevents rest and thermoregulation, dehydration and hunger accumulate over hours, and mixing unfamiliar cattle causes aggression. Long-distance live export — crossing oceans for weeks — represents welfare harm on a massive scale. The alternative of transporting chilled or frozen meat rather than live animals eliminates transport welfare harms while maintaining trade objectives, making live export a difficult ethical position to defend.