The objective of this experiment was to study different levels of energy supplementation on the carcass characteristics of beef cull cows under temporary grazing on cultivated pasture of Lolium multiflorum + X triticosecale. Fourty Charolais cows were divided into four age classes (AC), being: 4 (AC4), 5 and 6 (AC5-6), 7 and 8 (AC7-8) or more than 8 years (AC+8), and randomly alloted into four levels of supplementation (SL): 0, .3, .6 and .9% of live weight. The supplement used was ground sorghum grain. No significant interaction was observed between supplementation level and cow age. The increment of the supplementation level increased linearly the subcutaneous fat thickness, according to the equation Y = 2.090 + 1.717SL. Slaughter and cold carcass weight were higher for AC7-8 than for AC4 cows. Subcutaneous fat thickness was 3.69 mm for AC+8 and 3.59 mm for AC7-8, being both superior to the AC4 (2.22 mm). The AC4 were also inferior than the AC5-6 and AC7-8 in carcass length. However, the AC4 had higher sawcut (50.1%) than the AC7-8 (47.5%) and AC+8 (47.6%), but had smaller sidecut than the others age classes.
carcass dressing; Charolais; commercial cuts; conformation; cull cows; fat thickness
