Kansas State University and Certified Angus Beef teamed up to evaluate feedlot performance and carcass parameters from 17,919 Angus steers fed at a single southwest Kansas feedlot between 1997 and 2007. Arrival weight and days on feed averaged 788 lbs. and 135 days.

Average daily gain (3.62 lbs./day) was similar among steers grading USDA Prime, Choice and Select but was lower in steers grading Standard or below (3.30 lbs./day). Faster-gaining steers had heavier harvest and carcass weights, and higher yield and quality grades.

Sickness affected feedlot performance and carcass quality. Untreated steers gained faster than steers treated two or more times (3.62 vs. 3.26 lbs./day). Steers treated only one time gained the same as steers never treated. Untreated steers graded USDA Choice 11% more than steers treated two or more times. Being treated once did not markedly affect quality grade.

Steers in the USDA Yield Grade (YG) 3 category gained 0.11 lbs./day more and graded 16.1% more Choice than YG1 and 2 steers. There was no additional improvement in quality grade for steers in the YG4 and 5 categories, but YG4 and 5 steers gained 0.11 lbs./day more than YG3 steers and were fed seven additional days.

Read the full report at www.jtmtg.org/2011/abstracts/0500.PDF – Abstracts 547, 551 and 552