Carcass Traits of Lambs Produced by Crossbred Dams of Finnsheep, Dorset and Rambouillet Breeding and Slaughtered at Two Weights

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Abstract
The effects of dam's breeding and slaughter weight on the carcass traits of 60 wether lambs were evaluated. The lambs were produced by mating Hampshire and Suffolk rams to a flock of crossbred ewes in which five combinations of Rambouillet (R), Dorset (D) and Finnsheep (F) breeding were represented. The five crossbred dam groups were 1/4F,1/2D,1/4R; 1/4F,1/4D,1/2R; 1/4F,3/4R; 1/2D.1/2R and 1/2D,3/4R. Twelve lambs were selected from each dam group with six lambs assigned for slaugher at 100 lb (45.5 kg) live weight and six assigned for slaughter at 125 lb (56.8 kg) live weight. Most of the carcass traits including percent trimmed major cuts of carcass weight were similar among the lambs produced by the five dam groups. Lambs produced by each of the dam groups containing 1/4 Finnsheep tended to produce carcasses with a greater (P<.10) percent kidney and pelvic fat than did lambs produced by dams of 1/2D,1/2R breeding. Lambs from 1/4F,3/4R dams tended to have smaller (P<.10) loin eye areas than lambs from l/4F, 1/2D,1/4R; 1/2D,1/2R or 1/4D,3/4R dams. The heavy lambs exceeded (P<.01) the light lambs in all indicators of fatness and consequently, yielded a lower (P<.01) percent of their carcass weight in trimmed major cuts. However, when trimmed major cuts was expressed as a percentage of live weight, it was found that the heavy and light lambs differed little (P>.25) in this trait. Copyright © 1976. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1976 by American Society of Animal Science.

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