Consequences of prenatal and preweaning growth for yield of beef primal cuts from 30-month-old Piedmontese- and Wagyu-sired cattle

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.