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Conference paper2024Peer reviewedOpen access

Beef-on-dairy heifers grazing semi-natural grasslands can produce tender beef

Karlsson, Anders; Drachman, Fie F.; Wallin, Karin; Therkildsen, Margrethe

Abstract

Consumer demand for Swedish beef is still high and the Swedish produced proportion of consumed meat is still increasing (Lannhard Öberg, 2024). Therefore, this study was an attempt to contribute to this demand by developing innovative ways to satisfy the Swedish market with Swedish beef of high and uniform eating quality. It is well known that eating quality of beef is highly related to the degree of marbling, i. e. intramuscular fat; it is a strong predictor of eating quality and correlates positively with juiciness, tenderness, flavour, and overall acceptability (Savell et al., 1987). A beef cattle body becomes fatter with increasing weight and age. As the growing animal deposits fat in an predetermined order, starting with filling up the abdominal and subcutaneous fat stores, i. e. trim fat, before depositing intramuscular fat, it is almost impossible to obtain a high amount of intramuscular fat in the meat without the carcass getting too fat. These excessive fat deposits is a waste for the processors, a cost for the farmer, and an unnecessary environmental impact from a too long animal rearing period. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the effects of dam breed, sire breed, and intensity of production system on meat quality characteristics from dairy × beef heifer production based on forage and a well-managed seminatural grassland.

Published in

Reports from Department of Applied Animal Science And Welfare
2024, number: 3, pages: 94-96 Title: Proceedings of the 12th Nordic Feed Science Conference, Uppsala, Sweden
ISBN: 978-91-8046-741-4, eISBN: 978-91-8046-742-1Publisher: Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Conference

12th Nordic Feed Science Conference, 2024, June 18 - 19, Uppsala, Sweden