Technological advances in livestock transport monitoring are beginning to provide objective welfare assessment during journeys that were previously difficult to evaluate.
Livestock transport technology represents an opportunity to transform welfare assessment from inspection-based sampling to continuous monitoring. Traditional welfare audit of transport relies on inspection at departure and arrival points, missing everything that happens during the journey - which is precisely where welfare problems occur. Continuous monitoring of temperature, humidity, and animal behavior throughout journeys allows both real-time intervention when conditions deteriorate and post-journey analysis of welfare outcomes. The technology exists and is increasingly affordable; the gap is in regulatory requirements to use it and industry willingness to invest in monitoring that may reveal problems previously invisible. Requiring continuous monitoring as a condition of transport licensing would be a significant welfare advance.