A predictive model for beef cattle growth and carcass composition

Due to public concerns over food quality and animal welfare, beef producers are under increasing pressure to produce a high-quality product while still maintaining economic efficiency. Hence the need for a model for the accurate prediction of growth and carcass composition of beef cattle that is flexible enough to deal with the wide range of breeds of cattle and feeding regimes, either silage only or supplemented with concentrates, encountered on UK farms. This paper describes a model that has been developed based on a substantial database of experimental observations from a series of trials carried out by the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. If animal and feed costs are provided, the model can provide information on the most economic level of concentrate feeding to achieve the animal growth and quality of carcass composition required.