Abstract
The objective of the present study was to determine growth and carcass traits of beef breed bulls and heifers in the Finnish beef cattle population. The data collected from Finnish slaughterhouses included observations of 6323 and 2385 Hereford (bulls and heifers, respectively), 4421 and 1794 Charolais, 4335 and 1951 Limousin, 4068 and 1692 Aberdeen Angus, 2151 and 774 Simmental, 344 and 147 Blonde d’Aquitaine animals. For estimating valuable cuttings, a separate dataset including in total 1112 bulls and 260 heifers was also collected. Significant breed differences were observed in growth performance, carcass traits and retail product yield. The later maturing, Continental beef breeds seem to reach higher carcass gains, produce less fat and have more valuable cuts than the earlier maturing British beef breeds. The later maturing beef breeds tend to have carcass traits that suit well in the Finnish beef production system.
Highlights
Beef production in Finland is mostly based on the dairy breeds (Niemi and Ahlstedt 2014)
The decrease in the dairy cattle population observed in recent years threatened to reduce the level of beef production, and production from beef breed calves is increasing at present
The average slaughter age for the Ch bulls (552 d) was clearly lower compared to the other breed groups (p
Summary
Beef production in Finland is mostly based on the dairy breeds (Niemi and Ahlstedt 2014). Slaughterhouse pricing favours heavy carcasses and the average carcass weights of slaughtered animals have clearly increased during recent years. The average carcass weight of slaughtered bulls (including both dairy and beef breeds) increased from 275 kg (2000) to 336 kg (2013) in thirteen years (Niemi and Ahlstedt 2014). The current situation is complicated because fatness generally increases with higher carcass weight (Keane and Allen 1998) and, on the other hand, market demand in Finland concerning carcass fat is different from those beef markets where marbled beef is favoured (Herva et al 2011). There are penalties for carcasses under 320 kg with fat scores 3–5 and for carcasses over 320 kg with fat scores 4–5
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