Livestock Studies 1970, Vol 10, Num, 3     (Pages: 003-029)

The feed lot performance of prebred and crossbreed Brown Swiss young bulls

Saim KENDİR ,Servet ŞENEL ,Nevzat ULUDAĞ

- This experiment was conducted to evaluate feed-lot performance and some carcass characteristics of Brown Swiss, Brown Swiss Gray Step and Brown Swiss x Eastern Red young bulls. Also the comparison between the `feeders type` ration extensively used by most of the feeders and a `balanced` ration was made. Forteen BS, forteen BS x GS and eighteen BS x ER young bulls were put in the feed lots for four months, December to April, 23 of them receiving `feeders type` and the remaining `balanced` rations.

The feeders type ration was composed of 20 parts wet beet pulp, 1 part bran, 3 parts straw and fed ad.libitum for 125 days; for the last 20 days one kg barley per head per day was added to this ration. The balanced ration was composed of 66 parts wet beet pulp, 9 parts barley, 4 parts bran, 5 parts sugar beet molasses, 2 parts sunflower oil meal and fed ad.libitum in addition to hay for 120 days.

No significiant differences were found among breed groups for average daily gain, feed efficiency and dressing percentage. Average daily gains were 905 gr for feeders type ration and 1173 gr for balanced ration, and the amounts of feed required per kg weight gain were 8.84 and 6.98 kg respectively.

The average dressing percentages were 55.28 % for the feeders type and 58.32 % for the balanced rations. The differences between rations for average daily gain, feed efficiency and dressing percentage were statistically significant (P<0.01).

The averages of the area of longissimus dorsi per 100 kg of carcasses were 38.16, 36.27 and 32.45 cm2 in BS, BS x GS and BS x ER breed groups; 34.87 and 36.39 cm2 in feeders type and balanced ration groups, respectively. Breed group differences were significant in 0.01 level and ration group difference in 0.05 level.

No significiant differences were found among breed groups for the rations of bone and primal yield. The rations of bone to chilled carcass were 19.4 and 16.3 % and of primal yield to chilled carcass 17.5 and 19.9 % in feeders type and in balanced rations, respectively. Ration group differences, for these rations, were statistically significant. Keywords :