2b demonstrate that pre-pubertal castration-associated WL is close to the WL in the first 30 days after castration(Fig. 1). may be overestimated due to the anabolic property of testosterone on the control group. These that surgical castration after puberty has an important detrimental effect on performance, which would permit the steers to keep the advan tage on weight gain achieved by the gro ing properties of testosterone. Therefore, consistent with the reports al. (1996) and Fisher et al. (2001), cattle castrated post-puberty finish with a slaughter weight equal or lower than that of cattle castrated pre-puberty