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Effect of early weaning on performance, carcass and meat quality of spring-born bull calves raised in dry mountain areas |
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| Authors: | M Blanco G Ripoll P Albertí A Sanz R Revilla D Villalba I Casasús |
| Institution: | aUnidad de Tecnología en Producción Animal, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria, Gobierno de Aragón, PB 727, 50080 Zaragoza, Spain bCentro de Transferencia Agroalimentaria de Aragón, Barrio de Movera s/n. 50194 Zaragoza, Spain cDepartament de Producció Animal, Universitat de Lleida, Rovira Roure 177, 25198 Lleida, Spain |
| Abstract: | Sixteen bull calves were born in the Spanish Central Pyrenees in spring. They were either early (EW, 90 days of age) or normal weaned (NW, 180 days of age). At day 90, EW calves were placed on an intensive diet while NW calves were turned out with their dams to high mountain pastures. After summer, at day 180, NW calves were weaned and placed with EW calves on a common finishing diet until slaughter at the fixed age of 1 year. From birth to early weaning date, no performance differences appeared. However, EW calves gained faster (1.549 kg/day) than their unweaned counterparts (0.783 kg/day) from early to normal weaning date (P < 0.001). During the finishing period, NW calves showed compensatory growth, with a 44% higher ADG than EW calves (P < 0.001), with a similar feed intake and a better feed conversion ratio. Early weaned calves had a longer fattening phase than NW calves (264 vs. 158 days, respectively; P < 0.001) and thus total feed intake and feed costs were greater. When slaughtered at 1 year of age, EW and NW calves attained similar weight (489 vs. 510 kg, respectively; P > 0.05), but dressing percentage was higher for EW calves (56.9%) than for NW calves (55.2%) (P < 0.01), which led EW calves to have heavier carcasses, without differences in fat score or conformation. The different growth paths, the result of weaning management, did not affect meat tenderness, chemical composition and fatty acid profile, but affected meat lightness, with higher values for compensating calves (NW) than calves in continuous growth (EW). In conclusion, advancing weaning age modified calf performance without affecting substantially carcass characteristics, except for an improvement in dressing percentage, or meat quality. |
| Keywords: | Beef cattle Early weaning Performance Carcass quality Meat quality |
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