Progeny of both the Charolais and Limousin breed perform similarly during the finishing period, although Limousin progeny have a higher dressing proportion, a higher fat cover and produced larger eye muscles than Charolais progeny.
Offering finishing beef cattle legume/cereal wholecrop silages had no effect on fatty acid composition or meat quality when compared with meat from cattle finished on a grass silage-based ration.
Legume/cereal wholecrop silages do not offer a suitable alternative to high quality grass silage for finishing beef cattle.
The use of selenium-enriched fertilisers can improve and maintain a high selenium (Se) status in beef herds managed over several years on locally produced feedstuffs during successive outdoors and indoors seasons.
Finishing Holstein bulls on rations comprising different levels of crude protein had no effect on animal performance.
Limousin cross cattle had higher carcass gains and produced heavier, better conformed carcases in trials, compared to Aberdeen Angus cross (AAx) cattle, when fed on a grass silage and barley-based ration.
Rearing environment may affect the gut microbiota – and therefore the health – of pigs.
Different pig breeds respond differently in terms of fat deposition to the levels of nutrients supplied, particularly protein and energy.
Pork tenderness increases when pigs are grown relatively rapidly in the finishing period. But although fast growth will benefit tenderness, it won’t necessarily benefit meat odour or flavour.
Adding glycerol to pig rations significantly affected average daily liveweight gain but the effect was not linear.
