Visual score for finishing precocity affects the profitability of beef cattle

There is a great opportunity for improving the quality and uniformity of production of cattle carcasses. Visual scores provided by trained technicians have been used by different beef cattle breeding programs in Brazil with this purpose. There is a need to quantify the economic benefit of doing selection for these traits. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between finishing precocity, visually evaluated at yearling, and the performance of the animals in the feedlot and at slaughter, aiming to identify more profitable animals. Data from 202 Nelore steers, raised on pasture and finished in feedlot, belonging to a single farm in one year, were analyzed. On average, the animals entered in the feedlot with 19 months of age and 351 kg of live weight. The average daily gain in the feedlot was 1.15 kg and the animals were confined 116 days on average, resulting in a finishing live weight of 486 kg. The average carcass yield was 57%, resulting in a hot carcass weight of 278 kg, with 23 months of age. The visual score of finishing precocity, assigned at around 14-18 months of age, presented significant association with different feedlot and slaughter traits. Animals that received better scores of finishing precocity (4 and 5) presented better fat score at the beginning of the feedlot and at slaughter. They also spent less time confined. Animals with worse finishing precocity scores (1 and 2) presented a higher average daily gain, stayed more time confined, had higher finishing live weight, lower carcass yield, and presented a higher feedlot cost. Animals with intermediate finishing precocity score (3) presented on average higher profitability at slaughter. If the animals with higher finishing precocity scores (4 and 5) had been slaughtered with 72 days at feedlot, as they were already finished at this stage, their profit would have been higher than those of intermediate precocity. The results indicated that the visual score of finishing precocity at yearling helps the identification of more profitable animals for the production system.