Farm animal transport journey times
(for England and Wales)
Enter your postcode in the field at the bottom of this page to see if your local authority trading standards service has the full leaflet version available on its website.
Horses (except registered horses), cattle, sheep, goats and pigs must not be transported for more than eight hours unless the additional requirements for vehicles carrying out long journeys are met. However a single journey in the UK of up to 12 hours continuous duration is permitted in order to reach the final place of destination without the need for the vehicle to meet the additional provisions, required for longer journeys.
At the final place of destination animals must be unloaded, watered and rested for at least 48 hours. Approved livestock markets can be places of departure if the animals have travelled to the market less than 100km or they have been there for at least six hours with sufficient bedding and water, if not, the time spent travelling to the market must be added to the journey from the market to establish the journey time.
