Abstract:In order to study the effect of prolonging fattening period properly on meat production performance of Woking black cows. Sixty 12-month-old Woking black cows with similar weight (358.80±23.65)kg and good body condition were randomly divided into two groups (control group and experimental group), with 30 cows in each group, fed in a single column under unified standard feeding conditions. The control group was fattened to 30 months old, and the experimental group was fattened to 36 months old. All cows were slaughtered and their meat production performance was measured. The results showed that on the slaughter performance, the live weight before slaughter, carcass weight, slaughter percentage and net meat percentage of the 36-month-old group increased by 13.60%, 9.91%, 3.36%, 3.88% respectively compared with those of the 30-month-old group, showing a significant difference (P<0.01), eye muscle area, back fat thickness and Intermuscular fat thickness increased by 2.27%, 16.26% and 13.07% respectively, but the difference was not significant (P>0.05). In terms of meat quality, L* and b* of meat color increased by 8.15% and 21.69%, respectively, with significant difference (P<0.05), a* meat color increased by 11.08%, with extremely significant difference (P<0.01), and shear force decreased by 29.31%, with extremely significant difference (P<0.01). The results indicated that prolonging the fattening period of Woking black cows properly can improve the meat production performance and meat quality, and this fattening method is feasible.