• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.608-614
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• 2001

The effects of castration on growth and body composition of Javan rusa (Cervus timorensis russa) stags were examined at three slaughter ages in three experiments. Castration had no effects on growth rates, or liveweights at periodic weighings, at any stage in Experiments 1 and 2, when the stags were slaughtered at 19 and 13 months of age, respectively. In Experiment 3, monthly liveweights of castrated and entire stags were not significantly different until the stags were 21 months old. From this age, when they had recovered from their first rut season and were in their second spring/early summer, the entires grew more rapidly than the castrates. There were seasonal changes in growth in both treatments, indicating that pasture conditions influenced performance. Liveweights of entires and castrates were similar in stags slaughtered at 13 and 19 months, but castrates were smaller than entires at 25 months. Castration reduced the size of the head and skin, but there was little important effect of castration on body components at any slaughter age. Castration can be recommended as a management tool for rusa stags, especially if the animals are to be slaughtered before they exceed 19 months of age.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.740-746
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• 2009

Rusa deer are the only viable commercial tropical deer species for farming in the tropics because of their hardiness, adaptability and prolific characteristics. Twelve entire rusa stags were slaughtered according to halal procedure and used for carcass evaluation and cutability studies. Three carcass categories; large (46 to 55 kg), medium (36 to 45 kg) and small (25 to 35 kg) were developed for rusa stags. This study indicated that entire Moluccan rusa deer stags with mean live weight ranges from 50 to 80 kg and age groups of 15 to 29 months showed dressing percentage of 58 to 62%. Carcass conformation of rusa stags showed significantly (p<0.05) higher forequarters portion than hindquarters for medium (mean weight, 40.8 kg) and large (mean weight, 50.0 kg) carcass categories. The large carcass category was significantly (p<0.05) bigger in hindquarters portion (47.3% vs. 45.4%) than the medium carcass category. This study showed that medium and large carcass categories are more suitable for boneless cuts since the muscles were larger than small carcasses and easy for deboning. Stag carcasses showed higher proportion of the musculature in the high-priced areas of the carcass such as in round cuts. Bone-in cuts are more suitable for small carcasses since the muscles were smaller and difficult to debone (mean weight, 30.5 kg). About 90% of total deer carcasses in the small carcass category were developed into retail bone-in cuts (excluding 9.9% of breast, shank and trimming). The carcass characteristics and cutability information derived from this study can be used as a basis for a venison marketing strategy for deer farming and production in the tropics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.1098-1106
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• 2004

In a split-unit design, 12 Javan rusa (Cervus timorensis russa) stags (6 castrated and 6 entire) were used to investigate seasonal (winter, spring and summer) effects on intake, digestibility of food constituents, volatile fatty acid profile, and nitrogen retention, when given lucerne (Medicago sativa) or rhodes grass (Chloris guyana) hays. Entire stags ate 9% more dry matter (DM) than castrates (p<0.05). Both castrated and entire stags exhibited seasonal changes in DM intake, these being higher (p<0.05) in winter (62.3 g/kg $W^{0.75}$) than spring (56.9 g/kg $W^{0.75}$) or summer (55.3 g/kg $W^{0.75}$). Intakes of lucerne hay (211 g protein/kg DM) were significantly higher than of rhodes grass hay (49 g protein/kg DM) in all seasons (p<0.05). Digestibilities of DM (0.58), neutral detergent fibre (0.59) and acid detergent fibre (0.47) were similar between castrates and entires. DM digestibility was higher (p<0.0001) for lucerne (0.66) than rhodes grass (0.55), and was higher (p<0.05) in winter (0.60) than spring (0.58) or summer (0.57). The ruminal acetate concentrations were higher (p<0.001) in spring than summer (78 and 73 molar % respectively). Apparent digestibility of protein was significantly less (p<0.0001) for rhodes grass (0.37) than lucerne (0.75). N retention was positive for lucerne (15.2 g/d) but negative for rhodes grass (-2.8 g/d) (p<0.0001), and was higher (p<0.001) in summer (12.0 g/d) than spring (4.3 g/d) or winter (2.4 g/d). The tropical rusa deer exhibits seasonal variations in feed intake, food constituent digestibilities, VFA profile and N retention. Castration did not alter these traits. The results do not support the view that rusa deer can thrive on low-quality pastures. The productivity and commercial exploitation of rusa deer could be optimised if they are given high-protein feed during spring and summer.