Defra Secretary George Eustice has said the ventilation and temperature measures included in the livestock transport consultation were intended to support improvements in the poultry sector.
The consultation is focused on journeys in, or partly in, England and Wales, and includes a proposed ban on live exports, as well as reductions in maximum journey times, stricter headroom densities and restrictions on travel if outside temperatures are below 5degC or above 30degC.
NFU chief livestock adviser John Royle previously warned Defra had made little attempt to assess the financial and welfare impact of the proposed measures, and pointed out farmers would not have been able to transport livestock for an average of 56 days in winter using weather data from the past 20 years if the rules had been in force.
But speaking during the NFU online conference, Mr Eustice seemed to suggest sheep, cattle and pigs could be excluded from the measures.
He said: "In terms of journey times and the requirement for ventilation, the issue we were most concerned about, and I do think is something where action is needed, is in some of the poultry sectors, in particular laying hens, where you get depopulation at the end of their useful life.
"There were some quite worrying signs and statistics that you were getting high mortality at arrival at the abattoir and I do not think any of us can feel comfortable about that.
"That was the main intention of that part of the consultation."
Genuine
Mr Eustice urged farmers to respond to the consultation, saying it was ‘especially genuine' and had been extended to allow industry concerns to be properly considered.
"We want this to be a workable set of improvements," he said.
"We want to improve animal welfare and transport, we want to ban the export of live animals for slaughter and rearing, but we do want to make sure farmers are not affected going about their daily business and running their business in the usual way."
