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Relationships of Carcass Weight, Conformation and Carcass Measurements and Their use in Predicting Beef Carcass Cutability

Texas A&M University, College Station

Abstract

Cattle representing a number of breeds and crosses provided 835 carcasses for analysis of carcass characteristics. Definite limitations of this study are the rather arbitrary combinations of breeds and breed crosses and the various known and unknown treatments imposed upon the cattle which thus limit interpretations.

Carcass weight accounts for most of the variation in weight of boneless steak and roast meat. Fat thickness was the most important variable in multiple regression equations predicting percent of boneless steak and roast meat. Average fat thickness resulted in higher coefficients of multiple determination than a single fat thickness measurement. L. dorsi area was significantly related to yield of boneless steak and roast meat. Of the carcass measurements studied, only width of round contributed significantly to equations predicting yield of boneless steak and roast meat. Length of body, length of round and conformation were not significantly related to yield of boneless steak and roast meat.

An Equations containing the variables in the U.S.D.A. equation (carcass weight, l. dorsi area., kidney fat and fat thickness) resulted in the highest coefficients of multiple determination for percent of boneless steak and roast meat. However, a number of equations (all containing carcass weight) resulted in only slightly lower coefficients of multiple determination for predicting weight of boneless steak and roast meat. An equation containing the variables in the U.S.D.A. equation (carcass weight, I. dorsi area, fat thickness and kidney fat percent) resulted in higher coefficients of multiple determination for Herefords and Angus than for Brahmans and Charolais in predicting percent of boneless steak and roast meat. These data indicate that there are definite differences among breeds and that a given prediction equation may not be applicable to all breeds. For predicting weight of boneless steak and roast meat this equation was most accurate for the Charolais. For the Charolais, fat thickness seemed to have little effect on yield of boneless steak and roast meat.

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