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Abstract
Forty‐one autumn‐born Friesian bull calves were allocated to extensive (E) and intensive (I) production systems. The extensive system included 21 loose‐housed animals fed a roughage‐based diet the first winter, allowing a daily gain of 664 g, followed by a 5‐month grazing period. Ten of these animals were slaughtered directly from pasture (live weight ∼360 kg), and the remaining 11 animals after a further 10‐week finishing period with concentrates in tie‐stalls (live weight ∼460 kg). In the intensive system, animals were housed in tie‐stalls, offered concentrates ad libitum and slaughtered at about 360 kg (n = 11) and 460 kg (n = 9) live weight.
Overall, daily gain of E‐bulls was 926 g compared with 1478 g for the I‐bulls (p< 0.001). At pasture, E‐bulls gained 1108 g/day. Compared with I‐bulls of similar live weights, the E‐bulls slaughtered directly from pasture had a lower dressing percentage (p < 0.05), a higher lean content (p < 0.05), a much lower fat content (p < 0.05) and darker meat colour (p < 0.05). Finishing‐fed E‐bulls showed no sign of compensatory gain after the grazing period. The finishing period improved the carcass quality of E‐bulls, but the E‐bulls were leaner (p < 0.05) and had a darker meat colour (p < 0.05) than the I‐bulls of similar live weight (460 kg). It is concluded that a finishing period of minimum 10 weeks following the grazing period is necessary to obtain a satisfactory carcass quality of the extensively produced young bulls.