Why are horse trailers nicely enclosed with windows and doors, probably heating and A/C, but not for cattle?

Sometimes those horses are valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. More often they are worth at least what the truck and trailer are worth. Some cowboys have their total net worth in their horse. Show cattle are also cared for in the same manner. Stock on the way to the slaughter house need to be hauled in a manner that reduces bruises and cuts as that can cost the owner in degrading of the carcass. That does not mean slaughter animals should be hauled in luxury but you do need to take precautions like non-skid floors in trailers and no sharp objects inside on the walls of the trailers or trucks. Ranching and stock raising is a practical venture and not the world for someone who is looking for a cause to occupy their interest and break their boredom.

Reminds me of the old song by the Kingston Trio, that was titled "Tom Dooley"! It was about a man who knew he was going to die by hanging. Cow's know. They are raised knowing that their time on this earth is limited. It may be sad...but it's a big part of how America got it's start & how it feeds people & how those people continue to have jobs.

It appears that only people who use private horse trailers are paying top dollar to "pamper" their animals. Mostly show or rodeo people.

Most million dollar race horses are transported in huge 18 wheelers & the only air comes from opening the window vents & the heat is supplied by the body heat of the horses. The people who tend to the horses ride along inside the trailer right along with the animals. No one complains.

BTW...Cattle live outside in the elements, so I don't think they are suffereing from having an open air container. It is hard to see & even worse to have to drive behind & smell the stench of their feces & urine! Mooooove over.

The cattle MUST be packed in so that they are not thrown around & injured during shipping. They are difficult animals to tether, like a person could do with a horse! Basically, cows & cattle are wild animals. They can be herded, but it takes one-on-one handling to get them to take a harness & walk on a lead like a horse does. No one wants to "train" cattle by the thousands. It's called an INDUSTRY & it IS a bit inhumane, but until people stop eating meat...it's not going to change. Get over it (no desrespect intended). Perhaps someone will enact legislation to pamper the cattle & the price of beef & leather goods will skyrocket!

i agree with you it just isn't fair. We have friends that show and raise registered cattle and you just wouldn't believe the perks given to their show stock. They live in air conditioned rooms called "cold rooms". It's supposed to make their coats grow better. Only their high dollar experiments are afforded this luxury. The sad thing is that when the cattle don't place high enough or they develop some problem like a limp, guess where they go. These poor things go from air conditioned living quarters to a blistering hot fair. I've witnessed some animals have bad reactions to the change in climate. No disrespect intended to anyone that participates in this venue. I am merely expressing what I have seen through the years of being involved in 4H.

No it doesn't seem fair.

But I guess that the horses are going to dressage or showjumping shows or horse racing/trotting meets and will win prize money for their owners. They need to keep then calm and relaxed as horses get spooked easily and once spooked might not perform well.

I have read station owners autobiographies and papers on animal husbandry and do know that if the cattle are bruised from being squashed together or against fencing that their meat is of poorer quality. These bruised cattle recoup less money for the farmer. So it is in the farmers best interests that the cattle are treated as humanely as possible.

So, sometime some years in the past I walked out of my condo development and regarded on the condos around the line and there's a cow working around their front backyard and then at the back of the abode. This no longer being a typical sight i began out strolling over. As I have been given to to the line a truck pulling a inventory trailer come slowly using alongside. I ask in the event that they lost something. seems they lost 6 head of livestock. The farmer his hand and that i initiate searching at the back of the condos and constructive sufficient there are the 5 heifers and a youthful bull. seems they have been from a farm a pair miles away and have been being moved to a field on the different fringe of the housing progression. there's a steep hill alongside that highway and the back trailer door grow to be no longer shelter and swung open on the uphill and out went the livestock. fortuitously the only injuries have been some scrapes. It took an prolonged time yet we finally have been given them herded together. between the heifers grow to be everywhere. and that i grow to be heavily considering going to get my horse (additionally stored at a farm merely down the line) to help interior the roundup. finally have been given all of them together, and because there grow to be no thank you to get them back on the trailer I helped herd them at the back of a inn and procuring mall over to the place their new field grow to be. no longer precisely what I had deliberate for that morning.

My husband works in a chicken plant and I have seen those poor chickens being hauled to the plant in trucks that are open to the elements. I feel for them in the horrendous summer heat, the snow and ice and rain of winter, and the cold temps. I would think they could at least cover them with tarps.

Horse trailers are caring very expensive horses!! My sis paid $40,000 for her barrel horse and has a horse ranch!! One small thing like a bug in a horse's eye decreases the value.....it's a business!! I rode with my S.I.L. to Dodge or Hays City Kansas transporting cattle and the closer we got to the slaughter house the more they bawled....they know what's up!!! Sad but true!!!

The only cattle 'trailers' that I have seen are freezer delivery vans. I guess the difference is that the horse needs to be alive when it reaches its destination.

My friend has one of those horse trailers - she takes her horses to barrel racing events.

She stays nice and comfy when she goes over night and I has everything including the kitchen sink.

I suppose she figures the horses can survive the elements.

Too bad horses can't talk - I bet they would give us a piece of their mind.

Not really fair, is it?

Good question.

DeeJay.

the only correct answer is when i am taking part of my herd in the second type trailer it is a one way ride for them -- next stop will be on you plate but with the show cattle they travel first class -- i am going from illinois to iowa with two young heifers next week and they will be going first class!!!