Beef feedlot production intensifies cattle in high-density environments that create specific welfare challenges related to nutrition, respiratory disease and behavioural restriction.
Feedlot welfare challenges are particularly concentrated because of the density of animals and the intensity of the production system. Respiratory disease causing fever, nasal discharge and laboured breathing affects significant proportions of feedlot populations. Subacute ruminal acidosis from high-grain diets causes chronic digestive discomfort that is invisible to observers but measurable in rumen pH and liver abscess rates at slaughter. Deep mud in poor-drainage feedlots causes physical difficulty moving and chronic cold stress. The integration of cattle into feedlots from different backgrounds causes social disruption and fighting injuries that add to the cumulative welfare burden.