Fattening heifers on continuous pasture in mountainous regions - implications for productivity and meat quality

Abstract

Economical and ecological issues as well as consumer demand for sustainably produced agricultural food rise the trends to fatten beef cattle on pasture during the grazing season. However, particularly for mountainous regions, implications of turning beef cattle on pasture remain unclear concerning animal performance and product quality. Therefore, the present study was conducted to compare short grass grazing with a semi-intensive indoor fattening system in the Alps. Charolais × Simmental heifers of about 300 kg live weight were either fattened on continuous pasture (3-5 cm sward height) and finished in barn (Pasture group) or solely raised in barn on a grass silage-based diet with 2 kg concentrates (Indoor group). Animals were slaughtered at 550 kg live weight. Results showed that continuous pasture with a finishing period in barn allowed as good growth and carcass performance as fattening in barn. Over the whole experiment, average daily gain was 993 g/day in the Pasture group and 1026 g/day in the Indoor group. During the growing period, daily gain was numerically lower in the Pasture group than in the Indoor group (767 g and 936 g, respectively). Carcass fatness of pasture fed animals was lower but within the desirable threshold. Water holding capacity, meat colour, and shear force, an indicator for beef tenderness, were unaffected by feeding practices, but fat colour was more yellow in the Pasture group. Furthermore, meat from animals fattened on pasture had lower intramuscular fat contents and enhanced proportions of nutritionally valuable omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acids.

Physical activity, forced by steep pastures, affects muscle characteristics and meat quality of suckling beef calves

“…Other reasons may include the fact that the BF has a more oxidative-oriented metabolism than the LT (Talmant et al 1986) and is intensively involved in locomotion, while the LT is primarily a muscle of support and posture maintenance. In addition, in the present study an extensive ageing period was applied, which is common for high-quality beef (Renand et al 2001; Velik et al 2013). As a consequence, the possibility cannot be excluded that the difference in shear force may have been more pronounced before ageing.…”

A mobile system for rearing meat chickens on pasture

“…Chicken grazing depends on supplementary feed and can account for 10-15% of the feed intake (Lorenz and Grashorn 2012). Herbage has a beneficial profile of fatty acids and antioxidants, which can improve the quality of poultry meat and eggs (Sales 2014;Skrivan and Englmaierova 2014) and the quality of heifer meat (Velik et al 2013) on pasture. Pasture is a comparable source of carotenoids, such as algae (Englmaierova et al 2013;Kotrbacek et al 2013).…”

Beef quality in two autochthonous Valdostana breeds fattened in alpine transhumance: effect of lowland finishing and meat ageing

“…Extensive production systems, where cattle practise more intensive physical activity, were linked with darker muscles (Vestergaard et al 2000), and carotenoids from grass might add yellow colour, which is the opposite of what was found in the BF. The latter effect is, however, much more pronounced in the colour of adipose tissue (Velik et al 2013).…”

“…However, ageing is only successful when toughness is due to unfavourable myofibrillar properties and less so when connective tissue properties are limiting (Campo et al 2000). Also, long ageing periods enhance the risk of meat discolouration, which is especially critical as pastured beef is already susceptible to discolouration by grass feeding and alpine sojourn (Velik et al 2013;Gangnat et al 2016), a phenomenon possibly counteracted by finishing on other types of feed.…”