A cattle wagon is the everyday expression for a railway wagon designed to carry livestock. Cattle were and are usually transported in covered or open goods wagons.
Covered goods wagon are generally used for the transportation of weather-sensitive loads. Wagons with special bays or stalls were only used for the transport of racing horses whilst small livestock, such as sheep, goats, poultry and rabbits were transported in livestock wagons with slatted sides and/or hutches. Originally high-sided wagons were also used to move cattle as well as horses and pigs. For the transport of military horses in goods wagons, tethering rings were fitted. The transportation of large and small animals required special fittings - air vents, means of tethering, drinking facilities and viewing ports - in order to avoid quantitative and qualitative losses. Even troops were transported in covered goods wagons.
The term "cattle wagon" gained special notoriety because of its use in connexion with the Holocaust, where covered wagons were frequently used to transport Jews to the concentration and extermination camps.