Characteristics of Metacarpal Bones from Cows of Different Ages and Weights

Metacarpals from 59 Angus/Gelbvieh rotationally crossed cows were studied to determine whether bone loss occurs in beef cows between 33 and 153 mo of age. Bone loss or a change in bone composition could affect lean meat yield and proportions of carcass components such as ash. With the exception of 18 single-calf cows that were fed a high concentrate diet after their calves were weaned at 120 d of age, all cows with suckling calves grazed the same pastures. Calves from pasture-fed cows were weaned 46 d before the cows were slaughtered on October 23. Although carcasses from 153-mo-old, pasture-fed cows were heavier (P<0.01) than those from 33-mo-old, pasture-fed cows, no differences (P>0.05) in metacarpal weight, length, cortex shaft area, moisture in cortex, or ash in cortex were observed. Weight and length of metacarpals from 33-mo-old pasture-fed cows with 226.8-kg carcasses were similar (P>0.05) to those from 33-mo-old concentrate-fed cows with 409.3-kg carcasses. Metacarpals from the concentrate-fed, single-calf cows were then compared with those from 129-mo-old cows. Again, no differences (P>0.05) in weight or length of the bones were present. Low correlation coefficients obtained by pooling data for all 59 cows confirmed that no differences (P>0.05) in weight or length of bones existed among animals varying greatly in weight or age. Because complete calcification of the epiphyseal growth plates on the metacarpals occurs prior to 33 mo of age, no change in length was expected. However, our findings that no change in metacarpal weight or bone cortex composition occurred with large changes in age or weight are of interest. Within Angus/Gelbvieh crossed cows, the lean:bone ratio is based entirely on changes in muscle mass because bone mass remains constant. In addition to muscle mass, changes in fat content influence bone percentage in the carcass.