Fetal abomasal ulcers in yearling feedlot cattle.

During all of 1974, we surveyed, for illnesses and deaths, about 407,000 yearling feedlot cattle. From the 3,943 dead cattle, 1,988 necropsies were made; of this number, 31 (1.6%) had ulcers with fatal perforations or hemorrhages; a similar additional number of necropsied cattle had innocuous ulcers as incidental findings. Ulcers developed during all seasons and all stages of fattening, but were more common during the first 45 days of winter-initiated fattening than during other times. Perforations of the abomasal wall resulted in spillage of abomasal contents into the abdominal cavity and the development of peritonitis.