Castration Of Feedlot Cattle

[ozzydom]

It is policy of a major Thailand meat supplier who has most of their stock grown by contract feedlots to not castrate the cattle until they are about 400kg liveweight (they do not slaughter until at least 500kg LW.)

What would be the reason for such late castration,Is it for reasons of meat quality ?

I have seen these bulls in a few feedlots here and they are pretty feisty critters.

In my ignorance I would think that steers ( castrated after weaning ) would be easier to handle and put on weight just as well.

[slapout]

When you castrate (knife), the calf goes into a shock period and little weight gain. This is not long lasting (1 week or so if done correctly and treated.) I would guess the reason for late castration (400 kg) is to get more muscle build up, thus less fat on the carcass. A heifer carcass has the most fat, then steer and finally bulls, if all on same rations. The Thai consumer does not seem fond of a layer of fat on meat as some western groups are.

Bulls will ride most any other livestock, if cows are not in close proximity. Even horses, when nothing else is around. A bull in a pasture of cows can lose 15 to 20% of his weight during breeding season, depending on how hard he is used. I have heard the contract feedlots keep the cattle they are feeding out penned as a single unit. The late castration may have some impact.

[andycrosby]

Not going into beef are we mate?. I had a 100 head feed lot here 10 years ago more trouble than it was worth , by the way I de horned and De nutted them all at three months at the same time. Which I think is the best time, I think they are leaving it very late.

[canuckamuck]

We did some late castrations back in the day, it never really showed much benefit and there is the extra work of dealing with bulls. If late castration was a beneficial practice you could be sure the high tech feedlots in the west would be doing it.

[slapout]

We always cut at weaning, (about 250 to 300 lbs.) Had a neighbor who used rubber bands within a week of birth, another neighbor used a big pair of pincers at weaning. The latter two methods missed now and then whereas the knife is certain, plus you have mountain oysters. Watched a vet cut a 600 lb. bull (owner did not want to hurt him), deadened the ball sack, waited, cut and then stitched the wounds back. With the time involved, glad we did not have a hundred head to cut

[ozzydom]

Not going into beef are we mate?. I had a 100 head feed lot here 10 years ago more trouble than it was worth , by the way I de horned and De nutted them all at three months at the same time. Which I think is the best time, I think they are leaving it very late.

No andy,got my hands full with fish.

My Ozzy mate contracts to Thai -French,and the vets did 3 of his big ones on Saturday.

They knocked them out so he had to sit and watch them until they came around and got on their feet,in case they rolled their heads back and choked.

He has asked the principals and the vets why they leave it so late but cant get a reasonable answer for the practice.

The beasts are all penned separately as would be necessary with bulls ,

They are all Charolaisse cross so it may be a French thing.

They are fed special diets which Thai -French supply (at a price) to get heavy fat and marbling, in fact they pay a bonus for fat %.

[andycrosby]

Sorry mate but I worked for World wide sires for 10 years we brought Charolais semen here and the method of gaining fat that they are using is stupid. They would be better using angus or some kobe blood, I also here there is some very good wagyu blood lines coming out of Australia these days.

If the vets can not give a good answer and no one else in the world does it this way I can only put it down to that simple thing " Thai Logic"

[ozzydom]

Sorry mate but I worked for World wide sires for 10 years we brought Charolais semen here and the method of gaining fat that they are using is stupid. They would be better using angus or some kobe blood, I also here there is some very good wagyu blood lines coming out of Australia these days.

If the vets can not give a good answer and no one else in the world does it this way I can only put it down to that simple thing " Thai Logic"

The founder and owner of Thai -French is French so it may be some nationalistic thing re the insistence on Charolaisse.

Personally I am not a great fan of their beef,the tenderloin is probably the only cut consistantly ok,but at about 1k per kg it is out of my league.I go for the sirloin which to me has a 1 in 5 rate of being chewable .

It may be that the beasts are slaughtered to a weight factor with age not taken into account.

I visited quite a few local feedlots when I was contemplating the business and saw beasts 800 kg LW which were as old as me (well maybe not quite that old )

[andycrosby]

I know a nice young Australian chap who is just about to start in beef , He is also a very fine butcher I met him in Udon a week or two back and I think he is going to change the beef market here.

I recomened this site and so I hope we should here from him soon.

[ozzydom]

I know a nice young Australian chap who is just about to start in beef , He is also a very fine butcher I met him in Udon a week or two back and I think he is going to change the beef market here.

I recomened this site and so I hope we should here from him soon.

It would be a godsend to be able to buy a nice cut of rump or sirloin here with a decent chance of it being quality.

Unless he intends to use imported meats, supply may be a problem.As you said previously ,animals such as Angus cross or even Kobe are thin on the ground so it would take a longer term plan to breed them up.

The end product would be expensive but I am sure there is a market for such beef slaughtered as yearlings and as importantly butchered by a real butcher.

I dont know if anybody else has the same problem as me when cooking beef from a a fore mentioned slaughterhouse but, the shrinkage and the goo that oozes out during the cooking process is amazing.

Many years ago ,when I was commercial scallop fishing there was a scam by unscrupulous processors who soaked the scallops in water and bicarbonate of soda mix.

The scallops used to soak up this mixture and near double in size and weight,when you cooked them they would sizzle and spit fat near and far ,in the process shrinking to a fraction of the size purchased.

The practice was outlawed .

The meat I buy here reminds me of that practice .

[andycrosby]

This will be large Thai Cows crossed by AI the girls for breeding and boys for the chop. Killed the right way and a Cold room to hang. I think the Market could be very large. I am also no impressed by thai-french.

I am half tempted to get back in to cattle and anything can happen in 24 hours, I might buy a few girls and breed a few Angus crosses to help the job along.

Lets see after Christmas