Thirty-six animals were used to examine the effect of castration and vasectomy on performance of bulls which grazed veld under two systems of management. During the trial (which lasted from 15th May, 1964 to 28th December, 1966) rates of bodymass gain were 0,29; 0,33 and 0,29 kg/day on the better system of management and 0,22; and 0,23 kg/day on the poorer system for bulls, vasectomized bulls and steers respectively. Animals were slaughtered when 35-37 months old. Carcasses of steers had thicker back fat than did those of intact or vasectomized bulls, but no other differences were notable. These results indicate that no advantage arises from use of bulls rather than steers for beef production where animals grow slowly on veld.