Feedlot cattle farming - finishing cattle in confined yards on high-energy diets - is practised globally and raises significant welfare concerns around space, social stress and health.
Feedlot cattle face multiple welfare challenges: restricted movement, high-density social stress, disease risk from diet transition and respiratory infections, and environmental exposures including heat and mud. The absence of robust international welfare standards for feedlots means welfare quality varies enormously between operations and countries. Consumer demand for certified welfare standards in beef from feedlot-intensive producing countries is one lever that can drive improvement.