Effect of ration, sex and breeding on fattening performance of cattle from suckler cow systems

In the experiment weaned bulls (m) and heifers (w) of the breed Simmental x Simmental (FF), Simmental x Charolais (FC) and Simmental x Limousin (FL) from suckler cows were fattened with grass silage as forage and two concentrate levels (1 and 2). In level 1 the concentrate amount increased during the fattening period from 2.6 kg DM to 3.5 kg DM per animal and day and in level 2 from 4.0 to 5.3 kg DM. The initial live weight of the heifers was 285 and that of the bulls 360 kg. In order to measure the effect of final weight on performance the heifers were slaughtered with 480 and 550 kg and the bulls with 550 kg and 620 kg. The bulls reached significantly higher daily gains (1383 g) than heifers (1106 g). Feed intake did not differ between heifers and bulls at the same live weight. The energy requirements per kg live weight gain were higher for heifers (91.1MJ ME/kg LW gain) than those of the bulls (81.3MJ ME). FL heifers and bulls reached significantly lower daily gains (average 1119 g) than FF (1317 g) and FC (1298 g). The bulls and heifers of FF had a higher feed intake than those of FC and FL. The energy requirement per kg gain increased significantly from group FC (82.5MJ ME) followed by FF (85.6MJ ME) to group FL (90,5MJ ME). With increasing the concentrate level from the average value of 3.3 to 4.9 kg DM the daily gains increased from 1185 g to 1305 g, the feed intake from 9.1 to 10.2 kg DM and the energy requirement per kg live weight gain from 84.1MJ ME to 88.3MJ ME.

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