64 Effects of alternative finishing methods on performance and carcass quality of beef feeder steers

Abstract There has been an interest in directly locally marketing finished beef end products in Arkansas; however, most beef operations do not have the infrastructure to finish cattle conventionally. The objective of this study was to evaluate two non-traditional finishing methods (pasture-based with supplement) compared with a conventional finishing method on live performance and carcass quality of feeder steers. Crossbred beef steers (n = 63; 363.9 ± 28.7 kg) were blocked by body weight (BW) and assigned to pens (n = 3 steers/pen) with 7 pens randomly allocated to each treatment: conventional feedlot finishing diet with roughage included in the ration (FDLT); high starch supplement fed at 2 to 2.25% of BW with ad libitum access to bermudagrass pasture (STCH); or high by-product supplement fed at 2-2.25% of BW with ad libitum access to bermudagrass pasture (BYPD). Steers were fed their respective diets once daily and weighed on d 0, 28, 56, 84, 112, 140, and 161. Once cattle reached their targeted endpoint, they were transported to and harvested at a commercial slaughter facility in Arkansas City, Kansas. Carcass data were collected including hot carcass weight (HCW), preliminary yield grade (PYG), yield grade (YG), quality grade (QG), dressing percentage (DP), and final carcass value. Data were analyzed using PROC GLIMMIX and MIXED (SAS 9.4); pen was the experimental unit, treatment was a fixed effect, and block was considered a random effect. Cattle fed FDLT and BYPD had a greater BW on d 84, 112, and 140 (P ≤ 0.02) and greater overall carcass-adjusted BW (P = 0.03) compared with STCH. Average daily gain (ADG) was greater on d 84 (P = 0.03) for FDLT compared with STCH and BYPD. Overall carcass-adjusted ADG tended (P = 0.09) to be greater for FDLT and BYPD compared with STCH. As expected, cattle fed FDLT had greater dry matter intake (DMI) compared with STCH and BYPD for the entire study (P ≤ 0.0005). Both STCH and BYPD had a more efficient feed-only feed conversion on d 28, 56, 112, 140, and 0-161 (P ≤ 0.05) and were more economical (P < 0.0001) than FDLT. In this study, cattle fed BYPD were more profitable (P ≤ 0.04) compared with STCH and FDLT. Hot carcass weight tended (P = 0.13) to be greater and final carcass value (P = 0.01) was greater for BYPD and FDLT compared with STCH. No differences (P ≤ 0.78) were noted for PYG, YG, QG, or DP. Data from this study suggests feeding supplemental diets to beef cattle grazing pasture could successfully be used as an alternative finishing method without affecting carcass quality.