Effect of Finishing System on Growth, Efficiency, and Carcass Quality of Dairy × Beef Hybrids
Ally Grote, Addie Womack, Colton Robison, Garrett Farran, Blake K Wilson, Olivia Genther Schroder, Troy Wistuba, and Paul A Beck
Introduction
Beef and dairy production have become increasingly efficient in the past 30 years due to genetic and technologies advancements. This increased efficiency trend must continue for the U.S. beef and dairy production to remain competitive. Due to the 2012 drought and a drop in beef cow numbers, dairy animals served as an alternative source to support beef supply. Eventually, beef supply began to return to normal, leading to the Holstein bull calf losing almost all value and the value of dairy heifer calves dropped as well due to poor milk prices. These events left dairy farms without a marker for male calves or excess females. Dairies began mating a portion of their families with lower genetic merit to beef sires to start new lactations. Dairy-beef crosses can offer better genetic merit for finishing performance and efficiency compared to straight-bred dairy steers, but the best management practices for these crossbred calves may not be at the dairy. There is also very little work investigating post-weaning finishing system of beef-dairy crossbred calves.
Objectives
This study aimed to determine the effect of calf-fed or yearling finishing systems on the performance and carcass quality of dairy-beef crossbred steers.
Materials and Methods
- Steers were acquired (3 - 7d) by Land O' Lakes Calf Milk Research Facility (Gray Summit, MO).
- Steers were transported to Willard Sparks Beef Research Center (WSBRC) at 12-wks old by block (n=4) with 36 - 70 head per block.
- Upon arrival at WSBRC, steers were vaccinated for clostridial diseases and BRD, and
treated for parasites.
- Implanted with Ralgro (Merck Animal Health)
- Steers were placed on either
- Finishing Diets (FIN) (n = 106)
- High-quality pasture of either cool-season annual pastures or combination of warm-season annuals and perennial warm-season pastures and supplementation (GRW/FIN) (n = 105)
- GRW/FIN steers returned WSBRC when they reached 312 +/- 7 kg.
- Steers were sorted by BW and placed in pens (4 - 5 hd/pen) once at the feedlot.
- GRW/FIN were fed the receiving diet for once week. Steers were then stepped to a grower diet until they reached approximately 894 lbs. They were then transitioned to the final finishing diet.
- FIN were fed the receiving diet for two weeks before stepping up to a grower diet. At d 112, steers were transitioned to the initial finishing diet. On d 224, steers were stepped up to the final finisher.
FIN Implant
- Day 56 - Ralgro (Merck Animal Health)
- Day 112 - Component TE-IS (Elanco Animal Health)
- Day 224 - Component TE-S (Elanco Animal Health)
GRW/FIN Implant
- Component TE-IS is at the start of finishing
- Component TE-S - Day 120
| Ingredient | Receiving | Grower | Initial Finisher | FInal Finisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % DM basis | ||||
| Sweet Bran | 51.4 | 40.8 | 28.5 | 20.0 |
| Rolled Corn | 15.0 | 23.4 | 54.6 | 62.0 |
| Liquid Supplement | - | 4.0 | - | 5.0 |
| Dry Supplement | 5.2 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Cottonseed Meal | - | 0.5 | - | - |
| Urea | - | 0.5 | - | - |
| Prairie Hay | 28.4 | 20.3 | 11.9 | 8.0 |
| CP, % of DM | 17.6 | 18.4 | 13.4 | 13.3 |
| NEm, mcal/cwt DM | 76.7 | 77.1 | 85.9 | 91.9 |
| NEg, mcal/cwt DM | 48.3 | 50.1 | 57.5 | 67.2 |
| Days | 0-7 | 7-112 | 112-224 | 224-Slaughter |
Results
Finishing System
| Item | FIN | GROW/FIN | SEM | P-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | |||||
| Initial BW, lbs | 279b | 687a | 15.4 | <0.01 | |
| Reimplant BW, lbs | 1078a | 895b | 13.9 | <0.01 | |
| Slaughter BW, lbs | 1427b | 1485a | 11.9 | <0.01 | |
| ADG, lbs-hd- | 3.65b | 4.23a | 0.034 | <0.01 | |
| DMI, lbs-hd -1-d-1 | 22b | 28a | 0.9 | <0.01 | |
| DOF | 312a | 189b | 2.9 | <0.01 | |
| F:G | 5.94b | 6.55a | 0.169 | 0.02 | |
| Age at Slaughter, d | 406b | 471a | 1.479 | <0.01 | |
| Carcass Quality | |||||
| HCW, lbs | 863b | 896a | 8.3 | 0.01 | |
| DP, % | 63.7a | 62.2b | 0.25 | <0.01 | |
| Yield Grade | 2.94 | 3.09 | 0.058 | 0.10 | |
| Marbling Score | 467 | 489 | 12.4 | 0.27 | |
| BFT, in | 0.50 | 0.52 | 0.014 | 0.33 | |
| REA, in2 | 14.0 | 14.1 | 0.13 | 0.55 | |
| QG, % choice and prime | 80.8b | 93.9a | 0.05 | 0.02 |
Summary and Conclusions
- There were no differences in USDA yield grade, marbling, ribeye area, or back-fat thickness between finishing systems.
- GRM/FIN steers had a greater terminal body weight and exhibited a greater average daily gain and dry matter intake compared to those placed on FIN.
- Steers in GRW/FIN were older at slaughter but had greater performance and efficiency.
- Finishing system has an impact on the performance and efficiency of dairy-beef hybrid steers.
- Dairy-beef hybrid steers had increased performance when backgrounded on high-quality pasture before being placed on finishing diets compared to those placed directly on finishing diets.
