Feedlot systems confine beef cattle at high densities for rapid finishing. Welfare challenges include respiratory disease, lameness, heat stress, and the absence of behavioural opportunities in bare pen environments.
Feedlot systems impose significant welfare costs on cattle through disease burden, restricted movement, and absence of environmental complexity. Bovine respiratory disease causes substantial suffering and mortality despite antibiotic treatment programmes. The bare pen environment denies cattle the opportunity to graze, explore, or engage in normal social interactions over meaningful distances. Heat stress in summer periods and mud exposure in winter add further welfare burdens. Improving feedlot welfare requires shade provision, health monitoring, reduced stocking densities, and environmental enrichment that the industry has been slow to adopt without regulatory pressure.