- The study examined how different energy levels affected the growth, carcass quality, and fatty acid composition of Holstein steers with two groups slaughtered at 22 months and 24 months, using varying total digestible nutrients (TDN) levels.
- During the finishing phase, the group with higher TDN increased in body weight significantly (820.31 kg) compared to the lower TDN group and also showed better average daily gain and feed efficiency.
- While some carcass characteristics remained similar, fatty acid composition varied notably, with healthier fatty acids present in the higher energy group, indicating that feeding steers a higher energy diet can enhance growth and enable earlier slaughter.
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different fattening periods on the growth performance, carcass characteristics, and economic traits of Holstein steers. Sixty Holstein steers (8.0 ± 0.