Cattle are ruminants whose digestive physiology requires adequate roughage for rumen health, and the high-concentrate diets used in feedlot production cause painful digestive disorders that affect millions of animals annually.
Subacute ruminal acidosis is a painful and prevalent condition in feedlot cattle that represents a fundamental mismatch between the diet these animals are fed for economic efficiency and the diet their digestive physiology requires for health. The associated laminitis causes chronic foot pain, the liver abscesses cause systemic malaise, and the acidosis itself causes gastrointestinal discomfort. These conditions are substantially preventable through adequate dietary fiber, but the economics of feedlot production create persistent pressure toward the high-grain diets that cause them. Addressing this problem requires both regulatory roughage requirements and consumer demand for beef from production systems that prioritize rumen health.