• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.220-224
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• 2008

The need for refining dietary nutrient levels and limited information regarding Holstein steer and phosphorus supplementation led to the objective of examining the response of removing supplemental dietary phosphorus from a corn-based finishing diet offered to yearling Holstein steers. Two groups of yearling Holstein steers were utilized to study responses of increasing dietary phosphorus level during the finishing period. In Exp. 1, 96 Holstein steers (419 kg) were blocked into four weight groups. Dietary treatments included no additional phosphorus (NDC) or the inclusion of dicalcium phosphate (DCP) to achieve 0.30% phosphorus (P) in the complete diet. Daily gain, DMI and carcass traits were not different (p>0.05). Overall gain efficiency was slightly lower for NDC (p<0.05). Exp. 2 consisted of 78 Holstein steers (491 kg) blocked into two weight groups. Steers were harvested on d 84 and 112 d on test with carcass data collected following a 48-h chill. No differences (p>0.05) were detected for DMI, ADG, or gain efficiency. No differences (p>0.05) were detected in carcass characteristics in this experiment. Percent bone ash, calcium, P, and bending moment also did not differ among treatments (p>0.05). Removing supplemental phosphorus in the feedlot diet did not produce adverse effects on steer performance, carcass, or rib bone characteristics for yearling Holstein steers.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.399-406
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• 1997

This research was carried out to investigate the effect of zeranol injection on dry matter(DM) and nutrient intake requirement by growth stage of early castrated bull with 3 treatments(bul1, steer, steer+zeranol) with 28 Holstein bull at National Livestock Research Institute. The main results were as follows: DM intake at growing and fatting stage was the highest in steer groups, that the highest in bull groups at finishing stage and overall mean DM intake was 5% lower at steer+zeranol groups compared to bull and steer, respectively. Net energy intake at finishing stage was the highest as 35.49 Mcal at bull groups, while overall mean net energy intake was 101 - 109% of NRC requirement without significant difference. Concentrate intake to body weight was 1.68- 1.82, 1.91 -2.08 and 1.81 -2.05% at growing, fatting and finishing stage, respectively. Overall mean concentrate intake to body weight at steer groups was 1.94%, which is 1.8 and 1.81% higher compared to bull and steer+zeranol groups, respectively. Feed conversion ratio(DM) during overall period was the worst at steer groups as 9.321g, and also net energy conversion ratio was similar to DM conversion ratio.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.859-863
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• 2018

Objective: Since very little information exists about the topic; in this experiment we compare, in a long-term finishing program, the growth-performance responses and carcass characteristics of Holstein steers where non-structural carbohydrate concentration of the diet is reduced from 64% to 51% (dry matter basis). Methods: Sixty Holstein steer calves ($129{\pm}2.2kg$) were blocked by initial weight into five groups and randomly assigned within weight groupings to 10 pens. Calves were fed with a steam-flaked corn-based finishing diets containing 51% higher fiber (HF) or 64% lower fiber (LF) nonstructural carbohydrates. Non-structural carbohydrates concentrations were manipulated substituting dried distiller grain with solubles and alfalfa hay for flaked corn. Cattle were weighed every 112 days and at the end of the experiment (day 308) when the cattle were harvested and carcass characteristics were evaluated. Results: Steers fed the HF diet showed improvement (8.8%) in average daily gain (ADG) during the initial 112-d period. This effect was followed by a numerical trend for greater ADG throughout the remainder of the study so that overall ADG tended to be greater (4.9%, p = 0.06) for the HF than for LF. There were no treatment effects on dry matter intake. Gain efficiency and estimated dietary net energy (NE) were greater 8.3% and 5.2%, respectively for HF during the initial 112-d period. Overall (308-d) gain efficiency and estimated dietary NE were similar for both dietary treatments. However, due to differences in tabular dietary NE, the ratio of observed:expected dietary NE tended to be greater (4.1%, p = 0.06) for the HF vs LF diet. There were no treatment effects on carcass characteristics except for a tendency toward a slightly greater (0.5%, p = 0.09) estimated carcass yield. Conclusion: Reducing the non-structural carbohydrate concentration of a conventional steam-flaked corn-based growing finishing diet for Holstein steers can effectively enhance growth performance, particularly during the early growing and late finishing phases.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.1214-1225
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• 2023

We investigated the effect of energy levels on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and fatty acid composition of Holstein steers at different slaughter ages. Forty Holstein steers with an average body weight (BW) of 234.21 ± 7.42 kg and 7.78 ± 0.22 months were randomly allocated to two experimental groups; a 22-month-old experimental group and a 24-month-old experimental group. Total digestible nutrients (TDN) for each group were set to 70% (T1) and 72% (T2) during fattening phase and 74% (T3) and 76% (T4) for the finishing phase, respectively. No difference was observed in the final BW between the experimental groups during the fattening phase. However, in the finishing phase, the final BW of T4 (820.31 kg) group was significantly higher than that of T1 (745.57 kg; p < 0.05). The average daily gain (ADG) of T2 group in the finishing phase and overall period were 1.27 kg and 1.26 kg, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of T1 (1.11 kg and 1.12 kg; p < 0.05). The feed conversion ratio (FCR) and TDN conversion ratio of T2 group in the finishing phase also decreased by 10.23% and 7.73%, respectively, compared to those of T1. The cold carcass weight of T4 group was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of T1, whereas back fat thickness, longissimus area, and marbling score were not significantly different among groups. No differences were observed in physicochemical characteristics of the carcass including moisture, crude protein, and crude fat content among groups. However, the composition of fatty acids differed significantly between the groups. The content of C18:0 was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in T4 than in T1 group, and the content of C18:2 was higher in T4 than in T1 and T3 (p < 0.05). Therefore, feeding Holstein steers at a high-energy feeding level during the fattening and finishing phases improves ADG and reduces the slaughter age from 24 months to 22 months.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.792-799
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• 2019

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate whether the co-injection of antioxidants together with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination has the potential to attenuate the negative effects caused by vaccination in Holstein finishing steers. Methods: A total of 36 finishing Holstein steers (body weight [BW]: $608{\pm}45.6kg$, 17 months old) were randomly allocated to one of three treatments: i) control (CON, only FMD vaccination without any co-injection), ii) co-injection of commercial non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) with FMD vaccination at a ratio of 10:1 (NSAID vol/FMD vaccine vol) as a positive control (PCON), iii) co-injection of commercial mixture of vitamin E and selenium with FMD vaccination (VITESEL) (1 mL of FMD vaccine+1 mL of antioxidants per 90 kg of BW). Changes in growth performance and blood parameters because of treatments were determined. Results: No significant difference in BW, average daily gain, and dry matter intake of the steers was observed among the treatments. The FMD vaccination significantly increased white blood cells (WBC), neutrophils, platelets, and mean platelet volume (p<0.01) in blood analysis. The count of lymphocyte tended to increase after vaccination (p = 0.08). In blood analysis, steers in VITESEL tended to have higher numbers of WBC, neutrophils, and platelets compared to that of other treatments (p = 0.09, 0.06, and 0.09, respectively). Eosinophils in VITESEL were higher than those in PCON (p<0.01). Among blood metabolites, blood urea nitrogen and aspartate transaminase were significantly increased, but cholesterol, alanine transferase, inorganic phosphorus, Mg, and albumin were decreased after FMD vaccination (p<0.01). Conclusion: The use of antioxidants in FMD vaccination did not attenuate growth disturbance because of FMD vaccination. The metabolic changes induced by vaccination were not controlled by the administration of antioxidants. The protective function of antioxidants was effective mainly on the cell counts of leukocytes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.725-731
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• 2002

This experiment was performed to understand the changes in plasma leptin in association with plasma IGF-1, body weight and ADG from early growing to late finishing stages of Holstein steers. Blood collection was performed by arterial vein puncture at selected monthly ages of 1 (54 kg), 2.6 (103 kg), 7.2 (205 kg), 13.5 (314 kg), 16.9 (414 kg), 22.2 (550 kg), 24.9 (626 kg) and 27.4 months (695 kg). The blood was analyzed for leptin using the multi-species leptin RIA with recombinant bovine leptin (rbleptin) as standard, plasma IGF-1 was also measured using RIA. Against the standard rbleptin, the multi-species Leptin RIA system's sensitivity, cross reactivity, slope and recovery of 41.0 ng/ml rbleptin in plasma were 4.9 ng/ml, 11.22%, -1.396 and 97.8%, respectively. Plasma leptin measured were more than 5.0 ng/ml, which enable multi-species RIA system to investigate plasma leptin in normal growing steers. Body weight resulted to a highly significant second-degree polynomial relationship with plasma leptin (q=0.54, p<0.0001) and plasma IGF-1 (q=0.44, p<0.0001) from 1 to 27.4 monthly ages. However, the second-degree polynomial curve of plasma leptin and IGF-1 differs showing a concave and convex curvilinear relationship, respectively. ADG was not significantly associated to plasma leptin (r=0.06, p>0.05) and plasma IGF=1 (r=0.06, p>0.05) from 1 to 27.4 monthly ages. Low coefficient, but significant associated increase of plasma leptin and IGF-1 (r=0.12, p<0.008) from 1 to 27.4 months was observed. The uncoordinated increases of plasma IGF-1 at growing and plasma leptin at fattening period, may indicate (1) indirect involvement of endogenous IGF-1 on leptin secretion, and (2) IGF-1 level may signify lean and bone accretion while plasma leptin may mirror body fatness across the monthly ages of Holstein steers.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.593-606
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• 2005

Present study was conducted to investigate the optimal feeding levels for producing the high quality meat on the basis of the information deriving from the comparison of the growth performance and carcass characteristics among breeds(Holstein vs F1, Holstein♀×Hanwoo♂), sex(steer vs heifer) and interaction between breed and sex. Thirty two animals on 4 treatments(i.e. eight head each) were used for 540 days from seven to 24 months of age. The results obtained are summarized as follows; the range of average daily gains was 0.733 to 1.018, 0.994 to 1.255, 0.947 to 1.259 and 0.736 to 0.824kg for the growing, the early-fattening, the mid- fattening and the finishing periods, respectively. The range of average daily gains for the entire period was 0.882 to 1.061kg. The gains were higher for Holstein(7.3%) and the steers(10.5%) than F1 and the heifers, respectively. Concentrates and total digestible nutrients intakes per kg gain were higher for Holstein and the heifers than F1 and the steers, respectively. These findings may indicate that feed utilization is higher for Holstein than F1, and higher for the steers than the heifers. In carcass characteristics, back fat thickness was thicker for Holstein than F1, and rib-eye area was smaller for Holstein than F1. The rib-eye area per kg carcass weight was larger for F1 and the heifers than Holstein and the steers, respectively. Meat color was better for Holstein than F1, but the sex distinction did not show any differences. In physicochemical properties of longissimus dorsi, shear force, cooking loss, water holding capacity and the panel test scores of juiciness, tenderness and flavor for F1 and the heifers were better than those for Holstein and the steers, respectively. According to the above results, we may conclude that F1 and heifers rather than Holstein and steers are recommended for high quality meat production. In steers and heifers of Holstein and F1, the optimal feeding levels may be 1.9% of apparent body weight for concentrates and 25% of concentrates intake for rice straw.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.211-222
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• 2016

This study was conducted to investigate the physico-chemical meat quality and sensory properties of Holstein steers(n=18, 4 months old, average body weight 160kg) which were divided into 3 groups and fed 2 different energy levels of total mixed rations(TMR)(T1, TDN 74~84%; T2, TDN 77~85%) until 18, 20 or 22 months old, respectively. For loin muscles, 22-month group of T1 and 20- and 22-month groups of T2 had higher fat contents than the other groups (P<0.05). T2 had higher WHC values for 18-month groups among 3 feeding groups (P>0.05). In sensory properties, T1 had higher tenderness, flavor-likeness and overall likeness for 20-month group than the other groups (P<0.05). T2 had higher tenderness, juiciness, flavor likeness and overall likeness in 20- and 22-months groups than 18-month group (P<0.05). For top round muscles, 22-month group had higher fat contents than the other groups of T1 and T2 (P<0.05). T1 had higher in redness(a* value) and yellowness (b* value) of 22-month group (P<0.05). T2 had higher WHC values, lower WBS and CL values in 18-month group than the other groups (P<0.05). In sensory properties, T1 had higher tenderness for 18 and 20-month groups and overall likeness (P<0.05). T2 had higher tenderness in 18-month group. The results of this study showed that longer feeding of agricultural by-product TMR increased the intramuscular fat contents, however, the 18 and 20-months finishing groups were advantageous for the meat quality and sensory properties of Holstein steers.