Management of young goats during prolonged fasting affects carcass characteristics but not pre-slaughter liveweight or cortisol

2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 533 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Greenwood ◽  
J. A. Finn ◽  
T. J. May ◽  
P. J. Nicholls

Effects of pre-slaughter management (72 h continual fasting; 24 h feeding within 72 h fasting; 24 h feeding plus 6 h additional transport within 72 h fasting) and of water availability, gender, weaning 3 weeks before slaughter, initial liveweight (LW) and body condition score (CS) on LW, plasma cortisol and carcass characteristics were studied in young goats. The goats (n = 229) were ~16 weeks of age, with a mean ± s.d. LW of 13.7 ± 2.4 kg. Pre-slaughter treatment did not significantly affect LW or carcass weight at slaughter, but goats fed within the fasting period had lighter-coloured meat compared with the continually fasted goats and the goats fed and transported during the fasting period. Interactions between fasting treatment and gender were evident for hot carcass weight (HCW), retail yield (kg) and dress (% pre-fasting LW). Fasting treatment also interacted with water availability for HCW and with weaning status for GR (12th rib, 110 mm from mid-line) tissue depth. Interactions were evident between gender and water availability for LW at slaughter, and between gender and weaning status for retail yield (% HCW). Weaning status interacted with pre-fasting LW to influence LW at slaughter, and fasting treatment interacted with pre-fasting body CS to influence dress (% pre-slaughter LW). The effects of gender, weaning status, water availability, initial LW and CS on the pre-slaughter LW and carcass characteristics were generally consistent with our previous findings on time off feed. The results show benefits of providing high-quality feed and water and of minimising transport of goat kids during prolonged pre-slaughter fasting. They provide additional information for estimation of carcass characteristics of young goats to be marketed for meat and to aid in the further development of welfare standards for goats. Further research on interactions between gender and pre-slaughter management factors that influence goat carcass characteristics and meat quality is warranted.

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 910 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Greenwood ◽  
J. A. Finn ◽  
T. J. May ◽  
P. J. Nicholls

Effects of sex, weaning 3 weeks before slaughter, continuous fasting and water deprivation for up to 72 h, and initial liveweight (LW) and body condition score (CS) on LW and carcass characteristics were studied in 231 goats of ~16 weeks of age with a LW of 13.6 ± 2.4 kg (mean ± s.d.). Overall, the animals lost 5.9% of initial LW during the first 12 h of fasting, 7.5% by 24 h, 10.8% by 48 h and 14.1% by 72 h. Weaned goats lost 2.6% more LW than non-weaned goats after 48 h fasting, and animals denied access to water lost 1.5% more LW than those with access to water. Fasting period, weaning status, water availability and CS influenced dressing out percentage determined as percentage initial LW or percentage preslaughter LW. All six factors investigated significantly influenced hot carcass weight (HCW), retail meat yield (kg) and L2 (lumbar eye muscle site) tissue depth. Sex, weaning, fasting period, and initial LW and CS influenced retail meat yield (as a percentage of HCW) and GR (12th rib) tissue depth. Muscle colour score was affected by initial LW, water availability and fasting period. There was also a fasting period × sex interaction for muscle colour. The results provide information for estimation of carcass characteristics of young goats marketed for meat and demonstrate that preslaughter management of young goats influences factors that affect economic returns. They reinforce the need to minimise time off feed and water before slaughter of young goat kids, from both a welfare and an economic perspective, and for further research on preslaughter management factors that may influence welfare of goats and goat meat quality.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urias Fagner Santos Nascimento ◽  
Gladston Rafael de Arruda Santos ◽  
Camilo Santos Azevedo ◽  
Francisco de Assis Fonseca Macedo ◽  
Telisson Ribeiro Gonçalves ◽  
...  

SUMMARY The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of subcutaneous fat thickness (SFT) on slaughter in lambs ½ Dorper + ½ Santa Inês (DSI) on performance, carcass characteristics and commercial cuts. It was used twenty-four lambs, slaughtered with 2mm, 3mm and 4mm SFT. There was an effect of SFT on performance: for days of confinement (2mm = 51.38, 3mm = 66.50, 4mm = 91.63 days), age at slaughter (2mm = 139.38, 3mm = 159.88, 4mm = 171.00 days), final body weight (2mm = 33.50, 3mm = 42.81, 4mm = 46.19 kg), total weight gain (2mm = 18.75, 3mm = 25.08, 4mm = (2mm = 0.44, 3mm = 0.39, 4mm = 0.28kg), slaughter weight (2mm = 32.76, 3mm = 39.79, 4mm = 44.88 kg), body condition score (2mm = 2.97, 3mm = 3.13, 4mm = 3.56); for carcass characteristics: warm carcass weight (2mm = 15.33, 3mm = 19.16, 4mm = 21.90 kg) and cold (2mm = 15.03, 3mm = 18.75, 4mm = 21.47), cooling losses (2mm = 0.00234; 3mm = 0.00333; 4mm = 0.00201 kg), carcass yields: in the refrigerator (2mm=46,79; 3mm=48,30; 4mm=48,79%); commercial (2mm = 45.88, 3mm = 47.25, 4mm = 47.82%) and true (2mm = 52.93, 3mm = 54.51, 4mm = 55.67%); carcass compactness index (2mm= 0,250; 3mm=0,30; 4mm=0,33 kg/cm) for cut weights; neck (2mm=0,44; 3mm=0,55; 4mm=0,56 kg); palette (2mm=1,38; 3mm=1,61; 4mm=2,14 kg), flank steak (2mm=2,16; 3mm=2,73; 4mm=3,19 kg), loin (2mm=0,93; 3mm=1,14; 4mm=1,25 kg), and leg (2mm=2,68; 3mm=3,20, 4mm=3,76 kg). For the tissue composition of only the muscular cuts of the neck (2mm = 50.24, 3mm = 51.44, 4mm = 55.34%), bone of the neck (2mm = 30.24, 3mm = 29.63, 4mm = 25.91%), of the loin (2mm=15,05; 3mm=24,63; 4mm=24,71%) and the leg (2mm=11,38; 3mm=13,33; 4mm=13,13%), they presented differences between the SFT (p> 0.05). It is recommended to slaughter lambs ½ Dorper + ½ Santa Inês with 3mm of SFT.


1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
LP Thatcher ◽  
B Warren ◽  
PJ Nicholls

Lambs from the Poll Dorset x (Border Leicester x Merino) cross were raised from a late lambing in 1983 (a year when pastures grew unchecked and had high clover content) and 1984 (a year with intermittent dry periods and a low clover content in pastures). Multivariate repeated measures analyses were used to compare growth rates for rams, wethers and ewes within 2 periods of growth in 1983, and 4 in 1984. In all stages rams grew significantly faster than wethers and ewes, whereas wether growth rate exceeded that of ewes in only 3 stages. In general, when pasture availability and quality was high, rams grew faster than wethers by 0.3 kg/week and ewes by 0.5 kg/week. The rams grew 0.16 kg/week faster when pasture availability was limiting for a period in winter but lost significant (P<0.01) body condition, whilst ewes maintained both weight and condition. When good quality feed was again available, rams gained more weight than wethers, as did wethers compared with ewes, while rams and wethers gained more condition than ewes. Carcass weight and fatness, measured either as indicators of fat (GR measurement or fat score) or as total subcutaneous fat, could be predicted from assessments made on live lambs. Full liveweight, sex and year explained 41% of variation in GR, 48% in fat score and 79% in subcutaneous fat. Condition score, sex and year explained 45% of variation in GR, 52% in fat score and 57% in subcutaneous fat. Full liveweight, condition score, sex and year explained 80% of the variation in subcutaneous fat, 47% in GR and 57% in fat score. An interaction of sex with full liveweight in predicting carcass weight and subcutaneous fat indicated that as carcass size increased, the sex of the lamb became an increasingly important consideration when assessing characteristics important in describing lamb carcasses. Dressing percentage decreased by 0.08/kg as liveweight increased. This result was consistent over the 2 years, with opportunities for error being assessed and eliminated in the second year. Notwithstanding that this was an unimportant loss in real terms, published information showed an increase in dressing percentage with liveweight.


2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 710
Author(s):  
M. C. Raeside ◽  
M. Robertson ◽  
Z. N. Nie ◽  
D. L. Partington ◽  
J. L. Jacobs ◽  
...  

Dry matter production and nutritive characteristics of the pasture feedbase during autumn are key drivers of profitability in Australia’s prime lamb systems. An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that offering lambs dietary choice through spatially separated combinations of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) and/or lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) improves the post-weaning liveweight gain, condition score (CS), pre- and post-slaughter carcass characteristics and reduces the internal parasite burdens of wether lambs finished to a slaughter weight over autumn, relative to lambs offered no dietary choice. The experiment tested seven treatments, replicated four times in a randomised complete block design with plot sizes of 1 ± 0.1 ha. The treatments were: 100% perennial ryegrass (PR), 100% plantain (PL), 100% lucerne (LU), 50 : 50 perennial ryegrass/plantain (PR + PL), 50 : 50 perennial ryegrass/lucerne (PR + LU), 50 : 50 plantain/lucerne (PL + LU) and 33 : 33 : 33 perennial ryegrass/plantain/lucerne (PR + PL + LU). Plots were grazed by weaned lambs between March and June 2011. The lambs had been born between 3 August and 7 September 2010 and were derived from either Coopworth composite dams joined to Coopworth maternal sires or from Merino dams (Toland or Centreplus bloodlines) joined to Border Leicester sires. Backgrounding the lambs on a pasture system that contained lucerne during the lactation to weaning period increased (P < 0.05) liveweight at slaughter by 8% and hot carcass weight by 10%, relative to lambs backgrounded on perennial ryegrass. Finishing lambs on the LU treatment between weaning and slaughter increased (P < 0.05) liveweight at slaughter by 11%, CS at slaughter by 0.3 units, hot carcass weight by 16%, carcass CFAT (measured over the loin) by 2.5 mm, carcass eye muscle depth by 1.1 mm and carcass GRFAT (total tissue depth at 11/12th rib, 11 cm from mid line) by 3.8 mm, relative to lambs finished on the PR treatment. Finishing lambs on LU + PR, LU + PL or LU + PR + PL did not (P > 0.05) improve any of the measured parameters, relative to finishing lambs on the LU treatment. The PL and PR treatments did not differ (P > 0.05) in liveweight at slaughter, CS at slaughter or carcass characteristics, but the PL treatment had lower (P < 0.05) liveweight gain than the PR treatment during the first 2 weeks of the experiment (39 g/day vs 330 g/day), which was later partially compensated for. Our hypothesis has not been supported given that the use of spatially arranged mixes resulted in no improvement in liveweight gain, CS, carcass characteristics or internal parasite burdens relative to the comparable single species sward.


2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. D. O. Toplu ◽  
E. O. Goksoy ◽  
A. Nazligul

Abstract. This study was conducted to investigate effects of slaughter age and gender on carcass characteristics of indigenous Hair goat kids reared under an extensive production system. A total of 60 Hair goat kids (30 females and 30 males) slaughtered at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age was used as the material of this study. In the study, the cold carcass weights of kids at 3–12 months of age were between 6.15 and 10.83 kg. The cold dressing percentage was determined as 47.04–52.65 %. The effect of slaughter age on these traits was statistically significant (P<0.001). The cold carcass weight and the cold dressing percentage increased with the slaughter age. The effect of kid gender on the cold carcass weight was statistically significant (P<0.001). The mean value of this trait in males was higher than the females. The percentages of omental-mesenteric fat (P<0.001) and kidney-knob and channel fat (P<0.01) significantly increased with slaughter age. Subcutan, intermuscular, total fat and muscle/ bone percentages of the left half carcass significantly increased with slaughter age (P<0.01). However, bone (P<0.05) and muscle/total fat (P<0.01) percentages significantly decreased with slaughter age. The female kids had significantly higher values than males in terms of omental-mesenteric fat, kidney-knob and channel fat, subcutaneous, intermuscular and total carcass fat percentages (P<0.001). In conclusion, it is recommended that Hair goat kids should be slaughtered at 9 months of age under extensive management system to result in more edible meat production.


Author(s):  
S. A. Kochewad ◽  
T. Raghunandan ◽  
K. Sarjan Rao ◽  
N. Nalini Kumari ◽  
D.B. V. Ramana ◽  
...  

The present study was carried out to assess the effect of different farming systems on productive performance, body condition score and carcass characteristics of Deccani lambs. Thirty-six weaned lambs having 3 months of age were divided into three groups with twelve lambs in each group in under intensive (T1), semi-intensive (T2) and extensive (T3) farming systems. The comparative mean dry matter intake (kg/day) and (kg/100kg BW) was significantly (p less than 0.05) higher in T1 group when compared to other groups. T2 group had significantly (p less than 0.05) higher DM intake (kg/day) than T3 group. The mean values of Average daily gains in Deccani lambs were significantly (p less than 0.05) higher in T1 group compared to T2 and T3 groups. The feed efficiency was significantly (p less than 0.05) higher in T1 compared to T2, T3 groups. Statistically significant difference was found in BCS at six months of age (p less than 0.05) between T1 and T3 groups. BCS at 9, 12 months and overall BCS, there was a significant (p less than 0.05) difference between T1 and T3 groups. T1 group had higher pre-slaughter weight, hot carcass weight, meat %, fat% and meat: bone ratio thanT2 and T3. The dressing yields were comparable. The weights of other offals (heart, kidney, spleen, testicles, blood, head and lung and trachea) were comparable. The findings of this study indicated that the intensive and semi-intensive system of rearing could be useful for mutton production. In extensive system, which is predominant in India should change its facet by enriching the grazing land resources as well by the supplementation of required plane of nutrition during growth and special life stages viz., gestation, puberty, post lambing and finisher stages for achieving optimum productivity.


1999 ◽  
Vol 1999 ◽  
pp. 34-34
Author(s):  
J.W. Birnie ◽  
R.E. Agnew ◽  
F.J. Gordon

The metabolisable energy (ME) requirement for maintenance (MEm) has been derived from measurements of fasting heat production (FHP) with non-lactating cattle, with, for example, ARC (1980) using published data on steers to develop equations to calculate the MEm of dairy cattle. Recent studies at this Institute (Yan et al. 1997 a&b) have produced estimates of MEm, through either direct measurement of FHP, or the use of regression techniques for producing animals and concluded that MEm was higher than those in published feeding standards (ARC, 1980; AFRC, 1993). The objective of the present experiments was to explore possible reasons for the differences, such as the effect of cow body condition score (CS) on FHP and the effect of level and type of diet given during the pre-fasting period on FHP.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 3369
Author(s):  
Ítalo Araújo Albuquerque ◽  
Arturo Bernardo Selaive Villarroel ◽  
Elzânia Sales Pereira ◽  
Marcílio Costa Teixeira ◽  
Elisabeth Mary Cunha da Silva ◽  
...  

<p>This study was conducted to evaluate the <em>in vivo </em>and carcass characteristics of goats and sheep sold for slaughter, which originated from different regions of Ceará State, Brazil. Thirty-six (36) mixed-breed, uncastrated male animals (18 goats and 18 sheep), acquired from street markets, which were raised in an extensive production system from the regions of Quixadá, Sobral, and Tauá, were used in this experiment. Before slaughter, the animals were weighed, and body measurements were taken and the body condition score was assessed. Post-slaughter, the carcasses were weighed, morphometric measurements were obtained, and the commercial cuts were weighed and their yields were calculated. The mean <em>in vivo </em>body weight was 23.83 ± 3.76 kg for the goats and 25.22 ± 5.25 kg for the sheep; the body condition score was close to 2, and the mean age was 12 months, with no differences between the species. No differences were found between species and origin for the weights and yields of carcass or for chilling loss. The carcass conformation values were considered poor, and the fat cover was classified as too lean, with the goat carcasses considered superior to the sheep carcasses in these respects. The sheep had higher values for loin-eye area, subcutaneous fat thickness, and weight and proportion of leg than the goats. Mixed-breed goats and sheep reared in extensive systems in Ceará State and sold in street markets in the capital, irrespective of their origin, reach their slaughter weight at an advanced age and with a lean body condition, resulting in carcasses of a low quality, with a low muscle content and poor fat cover. In the extensive conditions of the state of Ceará, animals of the ovine species have a greater ability for meat production than caprine species.</p>


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 488
Author(s):  
Aurora Cittadini ◽  
María V. Sarriés ◽  
Rubén Domínguez ◽  
Gregorio Indurain ◽  
José M. Lorenzo

This research was conducted to study the effect of breed, Jaca Navarra (JN) vs. Burguete (BU), and finishing diet, conventional concentrate—diet 1 vs. silage and organic feed diet 2—on growth parameters and carcass characteristics from forty-six foals. Parameters as live weight (LW), average daily gain (ADG), body condition score (BCS), and fat depots were monitoring. In addition, the carcass parameters assessed were: carcass weight (CW), conformation, degree of fatness, morphology, and pH. Moreover, hindquarters of the left-half carcasses were sectioned in the main commercial primal cuts of leg. Results showed a clear “breed effect” in favor of BU foals, recording the highest productive values and carcass traits compared with JN foals. On the other hand, finishing diet contributed to improving the productive and carcass features of JN foals. In particular, diet 1 showed to affect positively the features analyzed compared with diet 2. Nevertheless, the meat primal cuts resulted in being unaffected by the breed and diet effects (except for knuckle), obtaining similar values among the groups of animals.


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