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Effects of Castration and Slaughter Weight on Fatness, Cooking Losses and Palatability of Lamb¹

University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506

Abstract

Sixty lambs (30 wethers and 30 rams) were fed in equal numbers and sexes to slaughter weights of 36, 45 and 54 kilograms. The wether lambs were fatter, the roasts had more drip loss and less evaporative loss during cooking and the meat had higher flavor, tenderness and overall satisfaction scores than meat from rams. Shear data verified the panel tenderness results. As lambs became heavier, they were fatter, roasts had more drip loss and total cooking loss, were more desirable in juiciness, tenderness and overall satisfaction and were more tender as measured by Warner-Bratzler shear.

Meat from ram lambs, although significantly lower in palatability and tenderness than meat from wether lambs, was still highly acceptable.

¹ Published with the approval of the Director of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station as Journal Article 71-5-108.

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