Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of rearing feeder cattle in mountainous re-gions on the weight of organs, carcass characteristics and meat composition after finishing, a comparison was made between 11 Holstein steers finished indoors after grazing on pas-ture in a mountainous region and 10 Holstein steers reared and finished indoors on low and. All the steers were slaughtered when their live weight reached approximately 600kg. The heart, spleen, diaphragma and stomachs of mountain-grazed steers were significantly heavier than those of indoor-reared steers (P<0.01), while small intestines and omentum of indoor-reared steers were significantly heavier than those of mountaingrazed steers. (P<0.05). The average bone weight of mountain-grazed steers was greater than that of indoor-reared steers (P<0.01). No significant differences were found in average weights of lean and fat of half carcasses between the groups. There was no significant difference in meat composition between the groups.
