Production of red veal for the EU market.

Abstract

A summary of four experiments which used Holstein/Friesian bulls and a fifth which used continental cross bulls to determine the effect of feeding ad libitum concentrates on animal prefomance. • The Barley soyabean meal ration provided consistent liveweight gain (1.25 kg/day) and similar cold carcass weight (237 kg) in all four experiments using Holstein and Friesian Bulls. • The Low energy treatment group (Experiment 1) had a liveweight gain of 1.14 kg/day and a cold carcass of 220 kg, i.e. 21 kg lower than that achieved on the High energy treatment group which had a liveweight gain of 1.26 kg/day and a cold carcass of 241 kg. • Providing animals with a summer period outdoors at pasture compared with a continuous period indoors, in general had the effect of improving daily liveweight gain and feed conversion efficiency when animals were offered ad libitum concentrate diet. The effect was greatest when autumn-born calves spent the final 180 days prior to slaughter at pasture. • Restricting the concentrate allowance at pasture brought about a 1.5 unit improvement in FCR carcass, however, at a similar slaughter age this treatment group produced carcasses that were 22 and 21 kg lighter than the control in two respective experiments. • The current economic climate for beef production does not permit the production of red veal in Ireland. However, when markets develop in the Mediterranean countries there will be opportunities to produce red veal carcasses for those markets using male bulls from the Holstein/Friesian herds. • Weaned continental cross suckler bulls slaughtered off an ad libitum concentrate diet at 550 kg liveweight had a feed conversion efficiency of 8.2 kg concentrate DM per kg carcass produced. The corresponding value at 650 kg slaughter, liveweight was 9.5 kg.