Comparison of pasture and concentrate finishing of Holstein Friesian, Aberdeen Angus × Holstein Friesian and Belgian Blue × Holstein Friesian steers

Crossbreeding Holstein Friesian dairy cows with both early and late maturing beef\nbreed bulls is common in Ireland. This study concerned the comparison of spring-born\nHolstein Friesian (HF), Aberdeen Angus × Holstein Friesian (AA) and Belgian Blue ×\nHolstein Friesian (BB) steers slaughtered directly off pasture in the autumn or following a\nperiod of concentrate finishing indoors. Male calves (18 per breed type) were reared together\nuntil August of their second year when they were assigned to a 3 (breed type) × 3 (finishing\nstrategy) factorial experiment. The three finishing strategies were (i) pasture only for\n94 days to slaughter (PE), (ii) concentrate ad libitum indoors for 94 days to slaughter (CE),\nand (iii) pasture only for 94 days followed by concentrate ad libitum indoors for 98 days to\nslaughter (PC). For HF, AA, and BB, mean carcass weight, carcass conformation score and\ncarcass fat score values were 275, 284 and 301 (s.e. 5.1) kg, 1.75, 2.42 and 2.89 (s.e. 0.11),\nand 2.48, 2.89 and 2.17 (s.e. 0.11), respectively. Pasture alone supported live-weight and\ncarcass-weight gains of approximately 800 g/day and 400 g/day, respectively. Live-weight\nand carcass-weight gains on concentrate ad libitum were approximately 1400 and 870 g/day,\nrespectively. For PE, CE and PC, mean carcass weight, carcass conformation score and\ncarcass fat score values were 244, 287 and 329 (s.e. 5.1) kg, 1.81, 2.56 and 2.69 (s.e. 0.11),\nand 1.83, 2.71 and 3.01 (s.e. 0.11), respectively. It is concluded that none of the breed types\nreached an acceptable carcass weight on PE and only HF had acceptable carcass finish. All\nbreed types were acceptably finished on both concentrate finishing strategies.