Carcass physical composition and meat quality of holstein calves, terminated in different finishing systems and slaughter weights

Abstract

The Brazil sacrifices many dairy calves at birth, which can become a very serious problem merchandising. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the physical carcass composition and meat quality characteristics of Holstein calves in feedlot or pasture with supplementation, slaughtered at 140, 180, 220 or 260 kg body weight. In the early termination calves had on average 57 kg and 58 days of age. The confined animals were fed forage (corn) and concentrated, in the ratio of 40:60 and concentrated pasture supplemented with 1% body weight. The experimental design was completely randomized in a factorial 2 x 4 (two feeding systems x four slaughter weights). It was observed a significant interaction between slaughter weight and finishing system only for the texture of the meat. The finished animals on pasture showed improved texture with increased weight, whereas the confined animals did not affect the weight. Animals finished on pasture had higher muscle percentage (69.48% vs 66.57%), and lower fat percentage (9.58% and 9.75 kg vs 13.20% and 13.08 kg) compared to confined animals. There was a linear increase in the total amount of muscle, bone and fat, muscle / bone ratio, compared edible portion / bone, palatability and juiciness when increased slaughter weight. The percentage of bone and meat coloring decreased linearly with the increase of slaughter weight. The proportion of muscle and fat, showed quadratic behavior. The animals of dairy breeds are excellent producers of lean meat, with good smoothness, flavor and juiciness.Index terms: Fat, tenderness, muscle, marbling, veal. RESUMOO Brasil sacrifica muitos bezerros de origem leiteira ao nascer, o que pode se tornar um problema mercadológico bastante sério. O objetivo deste experimento foi avaliar a composição física da carcaça e as características qualitativas da carne de bezerros holandeses terminados em confinamento ou em pastagem com suplementação, abatidos aos 140; 180; 220 ou 260 kg de peso corporal. No início da terminação, os bezerros apresentavam em média 57 kg e 58 dias de idade. Os animais confinados foram alimentados com volumoso (silagem de milho) e concentrado, na proporção de 40:60 e os da pastagem suplementados com concentrado a 1% do peso corporal. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado, em arranjo fatorial 2 x 4 (dois sistemas de terminação x quatro pesos de abate). Foi observada interação significativa entre peso de abate e sistema de terminação somente para a textura da carne. Os animais terminados em pastagem apresentaram melhor textura com o aumento do peso, enquanto que os animais confinados o peso não influenciou. Animais terminados a pasto apresentaram maior percentagem de músculo (69,48% contra 66,57%), menor percentagem e quantidade de gordura (9,58% e 9,75 kg contra 13,20% e 13,08 kg respectivamente) em relação aos animais do confinamento. Houve crescimento linear para a quantidade total de músculo, osso e gordura, relação músculo/osso, relação porção comestível/osso, palatabilidade e suculência qua...

Performance and fatty acid profile of Holstein calves slaughtered at different weights

“…In this case, as adipose tissue contains higher concentrations of energy than muscle tissue, the provided diet failed to supply the amount of energy needed to maintain the same rate of ADG. In the present study, the highest slaughter weight was 260 kg and maximum estimated carcass fat only reached 13.5%, a level too low to affect animal performance (Santos et al, 2013). In addition, the observed weight gain was similar to that previously reported (Montoro et al 2013).…”

“…Growing and fattening stages are characterized first by increased deposition of fat in the subcutaneous layer, then by increased deposition in the intramuscular layer (Vernon and Flint, 1988). In our study, lipid content decreased with increasing slaughter weight, despite the little variation in marbling content, as was also noted by Santos et al (2013), who studied the same breed. Stearic (C18:0) and behenic (C22:0) acids both decreased with increasing live weight.…”

“…Reductions in oleic acid and CLA trans-10,cis-12 contributed to the lower levels of unsaturated fat in the meat of the heaviest animals. The increase of unsaturated fatty acid levels in animals with higher slaughter weight (Kuss et al, 2007) is often associated with increased marbling in meat, but we found that the heaviest animals had lower lipid contents and exhibited little variation in marbling (Santos et al, 2013), most likely due to the young age of the animals (6-8 months). Moreover, there is the fact that the heavier animals, and thus the older ones, may have been approaching puberty, which might have resulted in a greater deposition of lean tissue and, thus, did not produce the expected increase in meat lipid content.…”

“…However, the R. Bras. Zootec., 47:e20170208, 2018 differences in ages and weights of the animals included in the present study were not sufficient to affect the amount of marbling, as was also noted by Santos et al (2013).…”

The Effect of the Slaughter Weight on Carcass Composition, Body Measurements and Veal Quality of Holstein Calves

“…At the same time, the highest variability in the proportion of separable fat of both the fore quarter and hind quarter was found between weight groups. Similar results in the proportion of meat from right-half carcass in group of 180 kg (66.74%) were noted in Santos et al (2013). In Tab.…”