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The objective of the study was to determine monthly changes in body condition scores, body weights and on the prevalence of internal parasites in Nguni, Bonsmara and Angus steers raised on sweetveld. Body condition scores (BCS), body weights (BW), packed cell volume (PCV) and monthly faecal egg counts (FEC) were determined in 25 Nguni, 15 Bonsmara and 15 Angus steers. Nguni and Bonsmara steers maintained their body condition throughout the study, while the Angus lost condition. The Nguni had the highest PCV levels. The PCV levels tended to decline during the rainy season for all the breeds. The FEC were generally low. Fasciola spp. and strongyle eggs were found in 16.3 and 54.6% of the collected faecal samples, respectively. Of the three breeds, Nguni steers had the lowest parasite infestation levels, with the Bonsmara being more susceptible than the other two breeds. Generally, the egg counts observed throughout the study were low.

Accurate determination of nutritional and health status of animals is invaluable in modern animal agriculture. Body weights and body condition scoring are the commonly used methods of assessing nutritional status of animals. This paper discusses drawbacks these methods have and highlights the benefits for using blood metabolites in assessing nutritional status of beef cattle. Blood metabolite levels indicate the extent of metabolism of energy, proteins and other nutrients in animals. Glucose, cholesterol, non-esterified fatty acids, protein, urea, creatinine, albumin, globulin, minerals, liver enzymes and haematology can be used objectively, reliably and routinely to assess the nutritional status of cattle. In Southern Africa, the use of these metabolites is rare due to lack of equipment for blood analysis and the high cost of analyzing the blood parameters. However, use of high value Nguni cattle in Southern Africa requires the use of blood parameters to accurately assess their nutritional status. Several factors, such as physiological status of an animal, breed, nutrition, season and age affect levels of blood metabolites. Combining body weights, body condition scores and blood metabolites increase accuracy of assessing the nutritional state and welfare of beef cattle.

The objective of the current study was to determine the relationship between off-flavor descriptors and flavor scores in beef aged for 2 and 21 days from Nguni, Bonsmara and Angus steers raised on natural pasture. Fifteen steers each of Bonsmara and Angus and 25 steers of Nguni were kept at the University of Fort Hare Farm for 12 months until slaughter. The M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum was sampled postmortem for flavor evaluation. There were associations (P < 0.05) between off-flavor descriptors and offflavor scores, off-flavor descriptors and aroma scores. There were, however, no (P > 0.05) associations between beef from the three cattle breeds and off-flavor descriptors, flavor scores and off-flavor descriptors, aging periods and off-flavor descriptors. It can be concluded that off-flavor description is uniform across breeds and aging periods. Furthermore, off-flavor description is related to off-flavor scores and aroma scores. CorrespondingFlavor is one of the components of sensory evaluation that affect beef acceptability by consumers. In lean meat, thermal oxidation of long-chain fatty acids occurs, thereby leading to undesirable aroma/flavor formation, which may affect meat palatability. Off-flavors are undesirable and negatively affect the consumers' decision on purchasing beef. Therefore, flavor evaluation should include off-flavor and its descriptors. Off-flavors develop with aging and it is therefore important to establish when meat should be consumed after slaughter. When examining factors that affect off-flavor production, it may be more beneficial to look at the total number of samples that are detected with off-flavors rather than the sensory off-flavor score only. Establishing relationships between breed, aging, flavor scores and off-flavor descriptors is therefore important in meat production and consumption.

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