Effect of Preslaughter Rate of Gain upon Tenderness and other Carcass Characteristics of Beef

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Abstract
Two feeding trials involving a total of 60 cattle, all under 18 months of age, were conducted to determine the effect of preslaughter rate of gain upon beef tenderness and other carcass characteristics. In 1960 the fast and slow gaining cattle gained 2.86 and 1.93 lb., respectively. In 1961 the trials consisted of a fast gaining treatment, a slow gaining treatment, and a treatment involving a switch after a seven week period of fast gain to a slow gaining treatment just prior to slaughter. The latter treatment resulted in an initial weight loss after the switch followed by a drastically reduced gain. Average gains were 2.82, 2.20, and 1.25 lb., respectively for the fast, fast-slow, and slow gaining treatments. Feed treatments had a pronounced effect upon characteristics contributing to the visual appraisal of quality in both the live animal and the carcass. They did not have any significant effect upon tenderness of the beef when measured organoleptically or with the Warner-Bratzler shear. Tenderness was not directly affected by preslaughter rates of gain in cattle less than 18 months of age and under the conditions of this experiment. A tenderness gradient existed within cross-sections of the longissimus dorsi muscle. The medial location was more tender and the lateral location less tender.