Due to public concerns over food quality and animal welfare, beef producers
are under increasing pressure to produce a high-quality product while stil
l maintaining economic efficiency. Hence the need for a model for the accur
ate prediction of growth and carcass composition of beef cattle that is fle
xible enough to deal with the wide range of breeds of cattle and feeding re
gimes, either silage only or supplemented with concentrates, encountered on
UK farms. This paper describes a model that has been developed based on a
substantial database of experimental observations from a series of trials c
arried out by the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland. If animal
and feed costs are provided, the model can provide information on the most
economic level of concentrate feeding to achieve the animal growth and qua
lity of carcass composition required. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All ri
ghts reserved.