Reduced age at slaughter in youthful beef cattle: Effects on carcass merit traits

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Baron, V. S.
  • López-Campos, Ó.
  • Aalhus, J. L.
  • Basarab, J. A.
  • Juárez, M.

• Two-hundred and twenty-four spring-born British×Continental crossbred steers were used in a 2-yr project to evaluate the effect of production system (calf-fed vs. yearling-fed) and its interaction with breed cross and hormone implant strategies, with and without β-adrenergic agonist on carcass characteristics. Carcasses from yearling-fed steers were 32% heavier (P0.05) was observed for marbling scores between production systems. Use of hormonal implants increased (P50%) had a higher proportion of lean and bone and a lower proportion of fat than carcasses from 50–75% British steers (P<0.001), which was also reflected in the composition of several individual primal cuts (e.g., rib, short-loin, flank, chuck and plate). The interactions amongst production systems and the other production factors studied were minimal. Therefore, despite expected differences in carcass size, reducing age at slaughter did not have a negative impact on Canadian beef carcass traits.

• Date created

  2012

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Breed-cross
  • Carcass grading
  • Marbling
  • Implant
  • Hormone
  • Β-adrenergic agonist

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3PC2TB5F

• License

  @2012 López-Campos, Ó., Basarab, J. A., Baron, V. S., Aalhus, J. L., Juárez, M. This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.