The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the carcass characteristics of intact or castrated feedlot-finished males slaughtered at 16 (young steers) or 26 months of age (steers). The diet, with 50% roughage and 50% concentrate, contained 11.8% of crude protein and 2.83 Mcal of digestible energy/kg of dry matter. Intact males from both categories showed heavier carcasses. The weight difference between intact and castrated males was more evident for 26-month-old steers (33%) than for 16-month-old (14%) animals. Carcass subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT) was similar for 16-month-old intact and castrated males (5.17 and 4.54 mm), while for 26-month-old males, the SFT was lower for intact males than for castrated males (2.90 vs 4.72 mm). Better conformation (15.16 vs 14.12 points), larger Longissimus dorsi area (86.96 vs 72.66 cm²) and longer carcass (134.70 cm) and leg (69.09 cm) length were observed for intact male carcasses. Intact male carcasses had higher muscle percentage (62.70 vs 58.40%) and lower fat percentage (22.60 vs 27.01%) than castrated male carcasses, resulting in cuts with more lean and higher muscle:fat ratio (3.25 vs 2.74).
animal category; carcass conformation; fat; fat thickness; muscle; sex condition
