Feedlots concentrate thousands of cattle in confined areas for rapid weight gain, creating significant welfare challenges from crowding, heat, and dietary stress.
Feedlot cattle experience welfare challenges from high stocking density, heat exposure without shade in many operations, dietary transition causing digestive upset, and high rates of respiratory disease. Mud in wet conditions causes foot problems. Novel social groupings cause aggression during mixing. Summer heat stress causes millions of cattle to suffer thermal discomfort and in extreme events, mass mortality. While feedlot efficiency drives low-cost beef production, the welfare cost to individual animals is substantial.