Cull dairy and beef cows represent a significant welfare challenge at the end of their productive lives, requiring specific management at transport and slaughter.
Cull cows often have cumulative welfare problems from productive life that make them particularly vulnerable to transport stress. The legal prohibition on transporting unfit animals is a welfare provision that is not always complied with. The decision to cull should include welfare assessment - transport of visibly compromised animals adds welfare harm at the end of life that on-farm slaughter would prevent.