Feeding behavior of categories of feedlot-finished beef cattle

ABSTRACT. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the feeding behavior of feedlot-finished bulls and cull cows in the Cerrado region of Piauí State, Brazil. Forty Zebu cattle were used, of which 20 steers averaging 283.0 ± 20.82 kg initial body weight and 30 months of age; and 20 cull cows averaging 296.1 ± 17.80 kg initial body weight and 100 months of age. Animals were grouped according to the following treatments: bulls and cull cows, using a completely randomized design. Feeding behavior was evaluated by means of visual observations every five minutes during 24h. Results were subjected to analysis of variance by the F test (p 0.05), showing that feeding behavior is influenced by the cattle category.