The study was conducted in Osorno Chile, in order to assess the effect of castration on average daily gain of weaned calves during the backgrounding phase. The study considered a total of 20 weaned calves of a beef biotype whose average live weight was 189.5 kg (± 4.3 SEM). Two groups of 10 animals each were randomly assigned to two treatments consisted in calves castrated after weaned and intact calves. Both groups were handled similarly; grazing natural pastures composed mainly of Trifolium repens L., Achillea millefolium L. and Anthoxanthum odoratum L. The study was conducted as a completely randomized design, with each animal being considered as experimental and observational unit. Data were analyzed using the statistical package JMP (SAS Institute, N.C. USA) by using a covariance analysis (ANCOVA by initial body weight) with a significance level of 5%. The evaluation period was 90 days and animals were weighted fortnightly. Total weight gains during the study period were 113.6 y 117.6 kg (± 5.7 SEM) for castrated and intact calves, respectively. No differences were observed between average daily weight gain (castrated = 1.27 vs. intact = 1.30 kg/d ± 0.06 kg/d). We conclude that there are no productive advantages by keeping intact animals, thereby increasing the risk of stress, suffering and risk of operators to perform the castration.