Characteristics of the carcass and quality of meat of male and female calves with different high-grain diets in confinement

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to evaluatecharacteristics of the carcass and meat of steers and heifers, finished in feedlots and fed different high-grain diets. Forty-five bovines were used: 21 heifers, with an initial age of 32 months and initial weight of 359.9 kg, and 24 steers, with an initial age of 20 months and initial weight of 337.6 kg, from a Charolais × Nelore crossbreed. The animals were divided among the treatments, which were defined by the energy source used in the diet: rice, white oats, or corn; seven heifers and eight steers were used per diet treatment. The animals remained confined until reaching an estimated warm carcass weight of 220 kg. The experimental design was completely randomized, with a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement. Weights at slaughter were higher for animals fed white oats (449.3 kg) or corn (430.4 kg) than for animals fed rice (401.8 kg). Higher carcass yields were found in corn-fed animals. Animals that received rice had lower coverfat thickness. The yields of the rib and hind-quarter commercial cuts were higher for cattle that received white oats or corn. Animals that received corn diets had greater arm circumference than animals that received white oatsand both were larger than animals that were fed rice. The tenderness (5.15 points) and palatability (5.46 points) of rice-fed animals werelower than those of animals fed white oats (5.73 and 6.40 points, respectively) or corn (6.04 and 6.45 points, respectively). Slaughter weights were similar between categories - 424.1 kg and 430.2 kg for steers and heifers, respectively. Steers had higher fore-quarter yield (38.0% vs.37.4%), whereas heifers had a greater carcass length (126.0 cm vs. 123.1 cm). The finishing of cattle with corn- or white oat-based high grain-diets yielded heavier carcasses, with adequate deposition of fat, andbetter performance of principal carcass cuts. Feeding with rice in high-grain diets produced leaner meats, but reduced carcass weight, with greater losses upon cooling and less tender meat. The production of confined heifers or steers ensures similar meat products.

Likelihood of obtaining tender meat from confined calf

“…Marbling fat is closely related to fat thickness in the carcass (21) . When the amount of fat is scarce, the carcass cooling process is more accelerated as muscles are protected from cooling to a lesser extent, which negatively effects several meat quality characteristics (22) .…”

Efecto de la nutrición en el último tercio de la gestación de vacas de carne sobre el desarrollo de la progenie

“…To complement the performance evaluations, body measurements of the males were taken, together with the weightings. The body compacity of the calves was calculated following the methodology described by Cattelam et al (10) , through the quotient of weight by body length, being subsequently adjusted for the 205 and 365 d. Female reproductive aptitude was evaluated based on the target reproductive weight of 285 kg, which represents about 60 % of the adult weight (AW), as recommended by the NRC (9) .…”

Feedlot-finishing lambs with different levels of soybean pre-cleaning by-product as the roughage source

“…Producing this roughage does, however, require the use of areas, cultural treatments, labor, machinery and inputs, all of which increase the cost of production. Moreover, climatic problems may arise, which can reduce the yield and nutritional quality of the produced silage (Cattelam et al, 2018).…”