Ruminal acidosis — caused by rapid fermentation of high-grain diets — is one of the most common and painful metabolic disorders affecting feedlot cattle, causing severe gastrointestinal distress, laminitis, and death in acute cases.
Ruminal acidosis causes genuine suffering. In its acute form, the pain of rumen stasis, the systemic effects of toxin absorption, and the subsequent development of laminitis — which causes every step to be painful — create a cascade of welfare insults. SARA, while subclinical, chronically impairs appetite, reduces rumen motility, and predisposes cattle to liver abscesses and laminitis. The conditions that cause acidosis — rapid diet transitions to high-grain finishing diets — are management choices driven by economic incentives to maximise growth rates. Slow adaptation, appropriate buffer supplementation, and maintaining some forage in finishing diets are all effective and economically viable strategies that simultaneously improve welfare and reduce production losses.