Consequences of prenatal and preweaning growth for yield of beef primal cuts from 30-month-old Piedmontese- and Wagyu-sired cattle
P. L. Greenwood A B G , L. M. Cafe A B C , H. Hearnshaw A C E , D. W. Hennessy A C F and S. G. Morris A DA Cooperative Research Centre for Beef Genetic Technologies, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
B New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Beef Industry Centre of Excellence, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
C New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Agricultural Research and Advisory Station, Grafton, NSW 2460, Australia.
D New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Wollongbar Agricultural Institute, Wollongbar, NSW 2477, Australia.
E Present address: 23 Eight Mile Lane, (Glenugie via) Grafton 2460, NSW 2460, Australia.
F Present address: 187 Fitzroy Street, Grafton, NSW 2460, Australia.
G Corresponding author. Email: paul.greenwood@dpi.nsw.gov.au
Animal Production Science 49(6) 468-478 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA08160
Submitted: 7 May 2008 Accepted: 22 August 2008 Published: 13 May 2009
Abstract
Cattle sired by Piedmontese or Wagyu bulls were bred and grown within pasture-based nutritional systems followed by feedlot finishing. Effects of low (mean 28.6 kg, n = 120) and high (38.8 kg, n = 120) birthweight followed by slow (mean 554 g/day, n = 119) or rapid (875 g/day, n = 121) growth to weaning on beef primal cut weights at ~30 months of age were examined. Cattle of low birthweight or grown slowly to weaning had smaller primal cuts at 30 months as a result of reduced liveweight and smaller carcasses compared with their high birthweight or rapidly grown counterparts. Hence they require additional nutritional and economic inputs to reach target market weights. At equivalent carcass weights (380 kg), cattle restricted in growth from birth to weaning yielded slightly more beef and were somewhat leaner than their rapidly grown counterparts, resulting in primal cuts being up to 4% heavier in the slowly grown compared with the rapidly grown cattle. Compositional differences due to birthweight were less apparent at the same carcass weight, although low birthweight cattle had a slightly (~2%) heavier forequarter and slightly lower (~1%) hindquarter retail yield, and less shin-shank meat (~2%) than high birthweight cattle, suggesting only minor effects on carcass tissue distribution. There were few interactions between sire genotype and birthweight or preweaning growth, and interactions between birthweight and preweaning growth were not evident for any variables. However, variability between cohorts in their long-term responses to growth early in life suggests other environmental factors during early-life and/or subsequent growth influenced carcass yield characteristics. Overall, this study shows that effects of birthweight and preweaning growth rate on carcass compositional and yield characteristics were mostly explained by variation in carcass weight and, hence, in whole body growth to 30 months of age.
Additional keywords: calf, fetal programming, newborn.
Acknowledgements
The financial and in-kind support of the Cooperative Research Centre for Cattle and Beef Quality, NSW Department of Primary Industries, CSIRO Livestock Industries and the University of New England to enable the conduct of this research is gratefully acknowledged. We also wish to acknowledge the considerable efforts of the following research, veterinary, technical and/or farm staff: Lewis Molloy, Keith Newby, William Lee, Max Johnson, Eric Donoghue and Albert Martin, NSW Department of Primary Industries Agricultural Research and Advisory Station at Grafton; Phil Dawes, Peter Kamphorst, Peter Newman and Ross Dicker, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Agricultural Research and Advisory Station at Glen Innes; Stuart McClelland, Joe Brunner, Bill Johns, Steve Sinclair, Reg Woodgate, Kim Quinn and Diana Perry, NSW Department of Primary Industries Beef Industry Centre of Excellence, Armidale; Dr John Wilkins, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga; Reid Geddes, Matt Wolcott and Jason Siddell, Beef Quality CRC ‘Tullimba’ feedlot; Peter Allingham, Dr Greg Harper and Dr Sigrid Lehnert, CSIRO Livestock Industries, Queensland Bioscience Precinct, St Lucia; Professor John Thompson, Andrew Slack-Smith and Jason Siddell, Beef CRC ‘Tullimba’ feedlot; Rebecca Farrell and John Bertram, Queensland Department of Primary Industries. The excellent cooperation of the management and staff of John Dee Abattoir, Warwick, in particular Warren Stiff, John Calvert and Geoff Grant, is also gratefully acknowledged. We are also grateful to James and Lyndon Mulligan of ‘Spelga Piedmontese’, the Australian Wagyu Association, and Peter Lee of ‘Waterview Wagyu’ who generously supplied the semen and the bulls used in this study. Finally, we wish to acknowledge the contribution of Dr Hutton Oddy, University of New England for his role in initiating this research.
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