Transport is one of the most stressful experiences in a farmed pig's life. Journey duration, vehicle design, loading practices, and lairage management all significantly affect welfare outcomes.
Transport represents a condensed welfare challenge - in a relatively short period, pigs face multiple simultaneous stressors that they are poorly equipped to handle. Animals that have lived their entire lives in familiar social groups with predictable environments are suddenly confronted with noise, motion, unfamiliar conspecifics, and temperature extremes. Transport-related mortality and injury rates provide the most visible measure of welfare failure, but chronic stress during transport has implications beyond those measured in death statistics. Maximum journey time reductions, improved vehicle standards, and better loading practices would each independently improve welfare for millions of pigs annually.