Effect of pelvic suspension and post-mortem ageing on the quality of three muscles from Holstein Friesian bulls and steers.

Background: The use of bulls rather than steers from the dairy herd offers a more profitable and environmentally friendly option; however, the beef eating quality from bulls is an issue of concern. This study assessed the effect of two tenderization techniques - pelvic suspension and ageing - on three different muscles of Holstein Friesian males from two different production systems.

Results: The results indicate that a production system based on steers slaughtered at 24 months (S24) produced beef with better eating quality than from bulls slaughtered at 19 months (B19) when tenderization techniques were not applied.

Physico-chemical and sensory characteristics of young dairy bull beef derived from two breed types across five production systems employing two first season feeding regimes.

Background: The present study aimed to assess the physico-chemical and sensory characteristics of Longissimus thoracis muscle from young dairy bulls: Holstein-Friesian (HF) and Jersey × Holstein-Friesian (JEX). Bulls slaughtered at 15 months of age differed with respect to the finishing system, whereas 19-month-old bulls differed in energy consumption during a second grazing season and finishing period. All bulls were offered different diets during the first grazing season.

Expression of genes involved in energy homeostasis in the duodenum and liver of Holstein-Friesian and Jersey cows and their F(1) hybrid.

Differences in feed intake and production efficiency in lactating Holstein-Friesian (HF), Jersey (JE), and JE × HF (F(1)) dairy cows have been reported. The liver-gut axis is important in the regulation of energy homeostasis, appetite behaviour, and production efficiency. The objectives of this study were to determine: 1) the effect of dairy cow genotype on the expression profiles of genes involved in energy homeostasis in duodenal and hepatic tissue, and 2) the association between the expression of these genes across both tissues and with economically important production efficiency traits.