Results showed that compared with Burdizzo castration, weaning had a greater effect on the number of vocalizations, standing/walking and lying behaviour,and daily weight gain.
In comparison with undertaking the procedures separately, concurrent castration and weaning neither affected behaviour and haematological parameters nor impaired performance. There was no evidence that the concurrent application of both treatments in steer production systems markedly increased the stress response compared with their application at intervals of a few weeks.