A comparison of the progeny of British Friesian dams and different sire breeds in 16- and 24-month beef production systems 1. Live-weight gain and efficiency of food utilization

Abstract

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0003356100000635How to cite this article: J. R. Southgate, G. L. Cook and A. J. Kempster (1982). A comparison of the progeny of British Friesian dams and different sire breeds in 16-and 24-month beef production systems 1. Live-weight gain and efciency of food utilization. ABSTRACTThe live-weight gain and efficiency of food utilization of purebred British Friesian steers and of crossbred steers out of British Friesian dams by Aberdeen-Angus, Charolais, Devon, Hereford, Lincoln Red, Simmental, South Devon and Sussex sires were examined in two beef production systems. One system was similar to the commercial 18-month grass/cereal system (16-month system) and the other to a commercial 2-year system (24month system). The cattle were slaughtered at a standard level of fatness, determined by the use of the Scanogram ultrasonic machine.The trial extended over 3 years and a total of 579 cattle were involved. Data for the two production systems were analysed separately. Adjustment was made to equal age at the beginning of the test and to equal carcass subcutaneous fat concentration.There were important differences between sire breeds in daily live-weight gain (P<005), the order of performance for the different sire breeds being similar in the two systems. Charolais and Simmental crosses grew fastest, followed by South Devon crosses, and then by the purebred British Friesian and the other native breed crosses. Faster growing sire-breed crosses were generally heavier and older at slaughter; they ate more, and there was no obvious relationship between sire-breed means for growth rate and efficiency. The range in efficiency between sire breeds was 27 g and 17 g live-weight gain per kg digestible organic matter intake for the 16-and 24month systems respectively. In both systems, Hereford crosses ranked highest and the purebred British Friesian among the lowest. Probability levels for sire breed differences were P < 0 1 (16 month) and / ) <001 (24 month). 155 >-005 J 1 > 0-05 J I r 9 J 1 r 19 J ] r 21 O c /-\ > Pi o 8 > Pi H rd t/3 O c o 5 o o o > Ed en

Liveweight gain and carcass characteristics of bulls and steers farmed on hill country

“…The absence of appreciable differences in growth rates between Friesian and Hereford x Friesian bulls is consistent with results of comparable comparisons with steers (Hight et al 1973;Southgate et al 1982Southgate et al , 1988. Table 2 show that both mean liveweight at slaughter and carcass weight were higher for the bull groups, and were higher for the 28-month than the 20-month group.…”

“…The slightly higher dressing-out percentage for bulls relative to steers has been reported in some previous studies (Geay 1978) but not in others (Hedrick et al 1969;Purchas 1990). Lower dressing-out percentages for Friesian cattle relative to their crosses with beef breeds have been reported elsewhere (Hight et al 1973;Holmes 1976;Kempster et al 1982Kempster et al , 1988Keane et al 1990;Purchas & Aungsupakorn 1993). For the MLC studies (Kempsteretal.…”

A comparison of Friesian, Aberdeen Angus×Friesian and Belgian Blue×Friesian steers finished at pasture or indoors

“…Southgate et al (1982) and Kempster et al (1982) found no re-ranking of breeds reared on 16-month and 24-month production systems. Similarly, More O'Ferrall and and Keane et al (1990) found few interactions of biological or economic importance between breed type (Friesian, Hereford and Charolais crosses) and feed energy level during finishing.…”

“…The large scale evaluation of beef breeds crossed on Friesian dairy cows carried out in the United Kingdom in the 1980s Southgate et al, 1982) included Aberdeen Angus but not Belgian Blue, while the evaluations carried out in Ireland (Keane, 1994(Keane, , 2003(Keane, , 2004 included Belgian Blue but not Aberdeen Angus. The Danish evaluation (Bech Andersen et al, 1976) included neither Aberdeen Angus nor Belgian Blue, while the New Zealand evaluations (Carter, 1975) had Aberdeen Angus but not Belgian Blue.…”

Efficiency of extruded linseed for the finishing of grass-fed steers to counteract a decline of omega-3 fatty acids in the beef

“…The grass-based production is, therefore, associated with lower average daily gains and lower final LW or higher age at the same slaughter weight (Therkildsen et al, 1998). Several authors (Southgate et al, 1982;Wright and Russel, 1986;Robinson et al, 2001) reported that an intensive finishing period after a period of extensive feeding can result in a marked increase in LW and feed conversion efficiency, a phenomenon called compensatory growth. However, supplementing concentrate in the finishing period of grass-fed steers in our study did not result in a better feed conversion ratio, and the numerical increase in average daily gains was the result of a higher total net energy intake which, in itself, explains part of the compensatory growth phenomenon (Wright and Russel, 1986).…”