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Carcass Composition of Lambs at Different Stages of Development¹

Iowa State University, Ames^,3

Abstract

The order of tissue maturation in lamb carcasses was bone, lean and fat. Based on the final weight group studied (50 kg) three-fourths of the bone development, one-half of the lean development, and one-third of the fat development had occurred before the lambs in this study weighed 32 kilograms. Separable bone decreased 6.1 percentage points, separable lean decreased 3.8 percentage points and separable fat increased 9.9 percentage points as lambs increased in live weight from 32 to 50 kilograms. The hindsaddle contained a higher percent separable fat in the initial slaughter group. As lambs increased in weight, however, hindsaddle-foresaddle separable fat differences became relatively smaller.

When cross-sectional surface areas were compared with physical separation data, percent bone of the exposed surface was more reliable than either fat or lean area, but the degree of accuracy was not high for this method of evaluation. A single linear fat measurement medially over the M. longissimus at the 12th rib was the most reliable single predictor of total carcass fatness. M. longissimus area is a more reliable predictor of total lean deposition than of relative lean deposition (percent lean of the total carcass). Specific gravity is useful to determine the trend of tissue deposition during development, but lacks the accuracy to predict precisely the relative percentage tissue deposition of a specific section of the carcass.

¹ Journal Paper No. J6418 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project No. 1566.

² The authors wish to express their appreciation to Dr. D. F. Cox for his assistance with the statistical analysis.

³ Department of Animal Science.

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