CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF NELORE YOUNG BULLS AND CULL COWS, FINISHED ON DIFFERED PASTURE OF Brachiaria decumbens

The present study evaluated the carcass characteristics of Nelore intact young males and cull cows. It were used 14 Nelore animals (seven cull cows and seven young bulls) finished on differed pasture of Brachiaria decumbens. The young bulls with 300kg initial body weight (BW) were slaughtered with 378.86 kg and 18-19 months of age, and the cull cows presented 300kg of BW and were slaughtered with 392.14kg of BW and 8 years old, after 12 hours withhold to feed. Young bulls showed higher hot (54.79 vs 50.23%) and cold dressing percentage (53.94 vs 49.85%) furthermore, showed higher chilling loss (1.55 vs 0.76%) than cull cows. It was observed higher sidecut percentage (13.30 vs 11.20%) and smaller fore quarters (37.61 vs 40.07%) by cull cows, however the sawcut percentage it was similar for both. Young bulls showed higher leg length (85.43 vs 73.43cm) than cows, but there weren't differences for carcass lenght, cushion thickness and arm perimeter. Cull cows presented more fat thickness than young bulls (6.57 vs 4.14mm) and higher Longissimus muscle (55.57 vs 49.14cm(2)).