Performance and economic viability of finishing of steers in pasture supplemented in the Pantanal

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of two genetic groups of F1 steers Angus vs. Nellore and Nellore in pasture supplementation and their economic viability. The experiment was conducted at the São Geraldo farm located in the municipality of Bonito – MS, Brazil. It was used 94 steers, being distributed in randomized blocks, totaling two treatments. Treatment 1 – 50 Angus vs. Nellore F1 steers weight 459.32, Treatment 2 – 44 Nellore steers with average weight of 454.45 kg. Performance analysis of the animals was significant (P < 0.05), between the genetic groups of final weight gain, total average weight gain, average daily weight gain and carcass dressing. The F1 animals had the higher total weight gain with 125 kg and the Nellore with 120 kg, representing a gain of 5 kg higher. The daily average weight gain for F1 crossing was 1.53 kg and Nellore presented 1.28 kg, observing a performance of 22.3% higher than F1 in relation to Nellore. The economic analysis showed a treatment effect (P < 0.05) for operating costs (CO), total operating revenue (ROT), cost of capital (CK), gross margin, net margin, economic break-even point, margin Per kg live weight. The profitability of F1 animals with 14.7% and a profitability of 17.6%; while the Nellore animals were with 2.0% lower profitability and a profitability of 14.9%. It was concluded that the cross between Nellore and Angus animals with supplementation obtained greater performance of weight and profitability