J. Anim Sci.
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J. Anim Sci. 1981. 53:1246-1255.
© 1981 American Society of Animal Science
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Quantitative Estimates of Beef Carcass Composition from Specific Gravity Measurements and Certain Carcass Traits of Feedlot Steers1,2,

A. Mata-Hernandez3, J. A. Marchello, C. B. Roubicek, M. F. Ochoa, J. A. Bennett4 and W. D. Gorman5

University of Arizona, Tucson 85721

Abstract

Data on 261 feedlot steers varying in genetic background, feeding regimen and management were used to evaluate specific gravity measurements and carcass traits (USDA quality and yield grade factors) as predictors of carcass chemical composition. Animals were slaughtered when they reached 1 cm of fat thickness at the 12th rib or had been on feed for 220 days, in the case of cattle fed as calves, or 120 days, in the case of those fed as yearlings. After a 72-hr chill (3 C), specific gravities of the left side, quarters and standard wholesale cuts were determined by hydrostatic weighing. Individual wholesale cuts were separated into bone and soft tissue. The soft tissue portion was ground and sampled for chemical analysis (lipid, protein and moisture). Prediction equations for estimating composition from specific gravity and carcass traits as independent variables yielded higher coefficients of determination than equations containing specific gravity alone. Equations derived from data on calves or from data on a combination of calves and yearlings provided accurate estimates of the carcass composition of calves and(or) yearlings. Specific gravity of the various wholesale cuts possessed predictive characteristics similar to those of specific gravity of the entire side. Regression equations obtained from data on steers fed as calves or as yearlings were similar in the total number of independent variables, intercept values, regression coefficients and standard errors of estimate.

Footnotes

1 Arizona Agr. Exp. Sta. Tech. Paper 33 59.

2 Contributing data to Western Regional Project W-145.

3 Present address: Armour Research Center, Scottsdale, AZ

4 Dept. of Anim. Dairy and Vet. Sci., Utah State Univ., Logan.

5 Dept. of Agr. Econ., New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces.






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Copyright © 1981 by the American Society of Animal Science.