New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
Comparison of the carcass characteristics of steers of different breeds and
pre-weaning environments slaughtered at
30 months of age
R. A. BARTON
Department of Animal Science
Massey University
Palmerston North, New Zealand
A. B. PLEASANTS
AgResearch
Whatawhata Research Centre
Private Bag 3089
Hamilton, New Zealand
Abstract The carcass composition (dressing-out percentage,
kidney and channel fat, fat depth at the 12
th rib, eye muscle area,
and trimmed fat, bone, and muscle weight) of 30-month-old beef-type steers
[Angus (71), Beef Shorthorn (28), Galloway (29), Hereford (15), and Red Poll
(14)] and dairy-type steers [Friesian (72), Milking Shorthorn (29), Ayrshire
(30), and Jersey (29)] were studied over 5 consecutive years. Animals were
selected for the trials after weaning and were grazed on pasture with
occasional supplementation. The dairy-type steers had lower dressing-out
percentages, heavier kidney and channel fat, lower fat depths at the
12
th rib, and heavier bone weights than the beef-type steers. The
difference between bone weight and lean weight was the best linear function of
the carcass parameters to discriminate between dairy-type and beef-type breeds.
There were significant between-year differences in fat variables and in eye
muscle area, but not in bone weight and lean weight. There were positive
relationships between the fat variables common to all breeds, and a negative
relationship between the fat variables and bone weight and lean weight. The
variance of kidney and channel fat and fat depth at the 12
th rib
increased with the mean, and the frequency distributions of bone weight and
lean weight showed significant (
P < 0.01) skewness and
kurtosis.
Keywords steers; breeds; years; carcass composition
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1997, Vol. 40: 57-68
0028-8233/97/4001-0057 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1997
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (959K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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