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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2017
The objective was to examine the effects of parity of cows at slaughter on the growth and development of the carcass, and changes in carcass composition in continental suckler cows in a lowland beef system.
The experiment had a factorial design based on the factors : parity and level of finish. The parity treatments were parities: 0 (maiden), 1, 3 and 5. The levels of finish were medium (fat class 3) and high (fat class 4 L). A group of three Blonde d’Aquitaine AI sires was common to parities 1, 3 and 5. Mean lactation length was 163 days which was spent at pasture. Animals for the medium level of finish were slaughtered at the point of service (maiden heifers) or at weaning (parities 1, 3 and 5), while high finish animals all had an additional finishing period on a grass silage/concentrate diet. A total of 77 animals of ¾ Charolais genotype were slaughtered within the experimental design with approximately equal numbers of animals slaughtered within each treatment.