Feedlots concentrate tens of thousands of cattle in confined conditions to finish them on grain before slaughter, creating significant welfare challenges that are increasingly scrutinized.
Feedlot welfare harms are largely dietary and environmental. Cattle are ruminants evolved for grass; high-grain feedlot diets cause subacute ruminal acidosis and liver disease in a large proportion of animals. Crowding without shade creates heat stress. The combination of poor diet, crowding, and rapid respiratory disease transmission produces a welfare environment that is difficult to improve without fundamental changes to the production model.