The influence of breed on the efficiency of growth and muscle deposition in bulls and heifers

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Berg, R. T.
  • Price, M. A.
  • Jones, S. D. M.

• Two breeds (Hereford (HE), and Dairy Synthetic (DY)), and two sexes (bulls and heifers) were compared for various measures of efficiency in beef production. DY animals had greater (P < 0.001) birthweights, and greater weaning weights (P < 0.001) than HE animals. At weaning, 16 animals of each breed-sex combination were grouped four to a pen and fed a high-concentrate cereal diet ad libitum to one of two slaughter weights (485 kg, 575 kg). Average daily gain and liveweight gained per 100 MJ dietary energy (DE) was greater (P < 0.05) for DY bulls than HE bulls. Average daily gain, but not liveweight gained per 100 MJ DE was greater (P < 0.05) for DY heifers than HE heifers. There were no differences (P < 0.05) in muscle gain per unit of liveweight among breed-sex combinations. At a constant liveweight DY bulls produced significantly (P < 0.05) more muscle than HE bulls, and DY heifers, significantly more (P < 0.05) than HE heifers. Muscle gain per 100 MJ DE was highest for DY bulls and lowest for DY heifers. For a constant amount of feed energy (23 241 MJ DE) DY bulls produced 20.1 kg (16%) more muscle than HE heifers. The overall results thus indicate that breed and sex cause important differences in the amount of carcass muscle produced for a constant energy intake.

• Date created

  1981

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Beef production
  • Carcass grading
  • Cattle
  • Weaning

• Type of Item

  Article (Published)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3RN6H

• License

  @1981 Jones, S. D. M., Price, M. A., Berg, R. T. This version of this article is open access and can be downloaded and shared. The original author(s) and source must be cited.