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Accuracy of Subjective and Objective Preslaughter Estimates of Beef Carcass Fat Thickness¹

Colorado State University², Fort Collins 80523

Abstract

Data from 140 steers of diverse biological types, slaughtered at successive stages of fattening, were used to compare the accuracy of subjective (visual appraisal) and objective (subcutaneous fat probe) estimates of carcass subcutaneous fat thickness. Both methods of estimation were relatively effective in ranking the steers according to differences in carcass fat thickness. Simple correlation coefficients between preslaughter estimates and carcass measures of fat thickness ranged from .70 to .87 (P<.01). Accuracy, expressed as a mean absolute deviation of preslaughter estimates from carcass measures of fat thickness, was almost identical for subjective and objective methods of estimation. Mean absolute deviations for individual evaluators ranged from .20 to .29 cm, but differences in accuracy between evaluators were not statistically significant. Measures of carcass fat thickness were estimated most accurately among cattle with less than .76 cm fat thickness and least accurately among cattle with more than 1.52 cm fat thickness.

¹ Scientific Series Paper No. 2697 published with the approval of the Director of the Colorado State Univ. Exp. Sta. This research was supported in part by the USDA-Agricultural Marketing Service and the Colorado Dept. of Agr.

² Dept. of Anim. Sci.