The transport of live cattle across the UK and Europe is a major welfare challenge affecting millions of animals annually. Understanding welfare requirements and the evidence for harm helps guide advocacy.
Cattle transport causes acute welfare harm that is proportional to journey duration, handling quality, and vehicle design. The experience of loading - entering a confined unfamiliar space with unfamiliar animals - is itself highly stressful. Movement and noise within vehicles cause fear responses throughout journeys. Long journeys accumulate multiple stressors including food and water deprivation, rest deprivation, injury risk, and social disruption. Post-journey cortisol and immune suppression indicate that the welfare cost of transport persists beyond arrival. The evidence consistently supports shorter journeys as improving welfare, yet economic pressures create incentives for longer journeys to lower-cost slaughter facilities. Slaughter close to the farm of origin, while reducing cost to producers through premium pricing, is the most welfare-positive outcome for transported animals.