ABSTRACT
Fattening of culI dairy cows and steers, fin ished in winter

Ljubo Goic M.1, Enrique Siebaid S.1 y Mario Matzner K.1
 

During 84 days, in a winter fattening system, the performances of steers and young cull cows, fed a ration of silage (from a mixed pasture) ad libitum plus 1.85 kg (D.M. basis) of barley/animal/day, in a yard, were compared. Silage intake was higher in cows (7.89 vs. 8.51 kg D.M./day/an., respectiVely; P < 0.01), but there were no differences in liveweight gains (0.75 vs. 0.78 kg/animal/day, respectively). Feed efficiency was 12.99 and 13.82 kg feed/kg liveweight gain, respectively. There were no differences in carcass characteristics, nor in dressing percentage (53.7 and 52.7%, respectively), nor in backfat thickness (2.85 and 3.50 mm, respectiVely). The relation for quarters was 1.27 and 1 .45 (P < 0.01), favorable to cull cows.

Keywords:
1 Estación Experimental Remehue (INIA), Casilla 1110, Osorno, Chile.