Long-term effects of cimaterol in Friesian steers: I. Growth, feed efficiency, and selected carcass traits

The objectives of this experiment were: 1) to determine whether feeding cimaterol to male calves from 4 wk of age until slaughter at target live weights of 275, 375, or 475 kg would result in a sustained increase in growth rate and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) and 2) to determine whether the effects of cimaterol on selected carcass traits would increase with increased duration of treatment. Ninety male Friesian calves 4 wk old were assigned at random to either a control or cimaterol group. Each animal was fed 1 kg of chopped barley straw and had ad libitum access to a pelleted diet containing either 0 or 4 ppm of cimaterol. Neither ADG nor FCE was affected by cimaterol during the first 5 wk of treatment. Growth rate of cimaterol-treated steers was 20% higher during wk 25 to 33. However, cimaterol had no overall effect on growth rate. Feed conversion efficiency was improved by 15 and 63% during wk 9 to 16 and wk 25 to 33, respectively. Cimaterol-treatment increased dressing percentage by an average of 3%, improved conformation score (2.2 vs 4.0, 3.0 vs 3.9, and 2.9 vs 3.2), and reduced subcutaneous fat score (1.7 vs 1.9, 1.3 vs 3.1, and 2.1 vs 3.4) for treated and control animals at target slaughter live weights of 275, 375, and 475 kg, respectively, but had no effect on carcass weight. On average, cimaterol treatment decreased carcass length by 2.5 cm, hide weight by 2.75 kg, and the weight of kidney and pelvic fat by 3.5 kg.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)