Growth and carcase characteristics of steers sired by Friesian, Charolais and Hereford bulls in dairy cow herds

Abstract

Friesian and Jersey cows were mated to Friesian, Charolais and Hereford sires in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia and the growth and carcase characteristics of 88 steer progeny were examined. Groups of steers of each breed type were slaughtered when their mean liveweights were approximately 454 and 544 kg. There were no differences in the pre-slaughter growth performance of the three siregroups of steers out of Friesian dams, but the Charolais x Jersey steers grew significantly faster than the Friesian- and the Herefordsired steers out of Jersey dams from the start of grazing to the time of the first slaughter, a period of 782 days. At both slaughter liveweights, the Charolais x Friesian and Friesian carcases were both longer and leaner than the Hereford x Friesian carcases, and the Charolais x Friesian carcases yielded the highest percentage of muscle. Similarly at both slaughterings of steers bred from Jersey dams, the Charolais- and Friesian-sired carcases were leaner than the Hereford-sired carcases and the Friesian-sired carcases were longer than the Hereford-sired carcases. Although the Charolais-sired steers gave 3 per cent more muscle than the Friesian-sired steers, the potential of Friesian sires to produce progeny suitable for either beef production or dairying purposes makes their replacement by Charolais sires unlikely.