Performance and behaviour of dairy bulls raised at pasture and in an uninsulated barn

Abstract

We compared performance, fatty acid profile of the meat, and behaviour of finishing dairy bulls raised at pasture and in an uninsulated barn. Grazing had no significant effect on the live weight gain, carcass conformation score or carcass fat score of the bulls. However, grazing improved polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acid ratio of the meat. Differences in the distribution of behaviours between the housing environments resulted mostly from the different feeding regimes and different space allowances. Stereotyped tongue-rolling was almost absent in both environment and there were no differences between the environments in time spent butting. This indicates that both housing environments were satisfactory in regard to the bulls' welfare.