CARCASS QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF THREE-WAY CROSS BEEF CATTLE REARED AT TWO LOCATIONS

Abstract

Carcass quality characteristics of 3673 steers (M) and heifers (F) born over a 6-yr period (1973–1978) at Brandon, Manitoba (farm conditions) and Manyberries, Alberta (range conditions) were compared. The progeny produced were out of 10 specific F1 crosses of dams mated to bulls of the Charolais (C), Simmental (S), Limousin (L) and Chianina (Chi) breeds. Dam crosses included Hereford × Angus (HA) and crosses sired by C, S and L out of H, A and Shorthorn (N) dams. Calves weaned at Manyberries were fed and evaluated at Lacombe. Sex differences, at both locations, indicated F>M for Warner-Bratzler shear force. At Brandon, M>F for conformation score, F>M for firmness score and F>M for percentage protein. For Lacombe data, M>F for chemical fat percentage, F>M for water holding capacity and F>M for percentage moisture. Terminal sire breed differences in the paired comparisons involving progeny of Chi (the comparisons with maximum degrees of freedom) indicated Chi progeny to have the highest color scores (darker cherry red) and C progeny the lowest (lighter cherry red), Chi progeny the lowest percentage chemical fat and C the highest, and Chi progeny the highest percentage moisture and C the lowest at both locations. At Brandon, the progeny ranking for Warner-Bratzler shear force was S>Chi>L, for pH Chi>S = L, for texture score Chi>C = S = L and Chi progeny had the lowest conformation scores and L progeny the highest. At Lacombe, significant progeny differences were recorded for Warner-Bratzler shear force with Chi>L and for water retention capacity S>Chi. At Brandon, breed of sire of dam effects indicated the progeny from S-cross dams had the highest texture scores. Progeny from L-cross dams had the lowest percentage chemical fat, the lowest skeletal maturity scores, and the highest percentage moisture. Progeny from C-cross dams had the highest conformation scores. At Lacombe, progeny from S-cross dams had the highest Warner-Bratzler shear force. At both locations, progeny from dams of Shorthorn breeding had the highest marbling scores. Direct comparison of progeny from exotic cross dams vs. progeny from HA dams at both locations indicated that the progeny from HA dams had lower color scores (lighter cherry red), a lower percentage moisture, higher marbling scores and a higher percentage chemical fat. At Lacombe, the HA dams had progeny with lower Warner-Bratzler shear force. At Brandon, the progeny from the HA dams had lower texture scores, higher firmness scores, a lower percentage protein and generally had lower conformation scores. The differences found between breeds of terminal sire and breed cross of dam for the traits evaluated are not of any commercial consequence. Key words: Cattle, breeds, carcass, quality