Effects of housing condition, feeding style, and age on fattening performances, comfort, and some slaughterhouse characteristics in Eastern Anatolian Red bulls

Abstract

market. Nowadays, beef production faces challenges, however, due to a number of social, environmental, and human factors. In order to overcome this challenge, the politicians, researchers, and beef producers must all work together on increasing the sustainability of beef production to meet a growing demand. Therefore, it is of great importance to investigate and implement new production and rearing models. Developing different production models and transferring them into practice is important for people and the country's future.Beef production systems are related to climatic and environmental conditions, animal phenotypes, and management practices of the region [1]. Efficient introduction of domestic cattle breeds into production is one of the methods used in the region for beef production. One of these native breeds is the Eastern Anatolian Red (EAR) cattle that are common in the eastern part of Turkey. These animals are known to have genetically contributed to some cattle breeds in Europe [2], and are suitable material for new breeding studies because they are grown without any rearing models and are more profitable.Similar to many highland regions, in eastern Turkey beef production is done according to traditional methods which disregard age, housing form, and feeding method effects on performance. This results in poor production efficiency and unfeasible utilization of resources.This research was conducted to determine the fattening performance and some slaughterhouse data of the EAR bulls that were of different ages, fed using different feeding models, and housed under different conditions. Material and methods Animals and housing conditionsThe study was carried out at the Eastern Anatolian Agricultural Research Institute, Erzurum, Turkey (39°55′15.49″N, 41°17′12.90 E, and at an altitude of 1850 m). The experimental protocol was approved by the Local and Institutional Committee on Animal Ethics and Research. A total of 25 purebred EAR bulls (15 head of 2-year-olds and 10 head of 1-year-olds) were assigned