Growth and meat quality of grain finished entire male Bos indicus cattle

Summary

Production parameters, carcass characteristics and eating quality of meat from young entire Bos indicus males sourced from northern breeding herds and grain finished was studied. Entire male calves were weighed and allocated to one of four treatment groups: 

1) Early-castrate; 

2) Late-castrate; 

3) Short-scrotum; 

4) Entire. Weaners were grown out on grass pasture to ≈330 kg liveweight, then grain fed for 75 days, prior to slaughter at 25 to 28 months of age. 

Data collected included liveweights and growth rates, carcass characteristics, MSA grade and eating quality. Three muscles from thirty animals in each treatment group were further evaluated for eating quality by consumer taste panels. Non-castrated animals that met AusMeat specifications for “male” had a ≈$52 higher gross value carcasses than those from castrated animals. Only striploins from early-castrated animals were rated as being of higher eating quality than other cuts evaluated from late-castrate, short-scrotum or entire animals.
Production of young entire Bos indicus males has the potential for substantial returns for northern beef producers with little impact to meat quality. However, there is a need for further data to be generated to allow the MSA grading model to be further refined for high-grade Bos indicus cattle.