Carcass composition of fattened rams and wethers of Sudan Desert Sheep

Osman, A.H., El-Shafie, S.A. and Khattab, A.G.H. 1970. Carcass composition of fattened rams and wethers of Sudan Desert Sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science 75 (2): 257-263.

Carcass yield and chemical composition of edible meat of fifteen fattened yearling rams and fifteen fattened yearling wethers of Sudan Desert sheep were studied. The animals studied were random samples from groups, which had been fattened for 2 months on three different rations. They were about 14 months old at slaughter, and their weights at slaughter ranged from 25 to 52 kg. The average dressing percentage for rams and wethers was 53.0 and 52.2% respectively. Warm carcass weights were 20.22 kg for rams and 19.64 kg for wethers, and these carcasses lost 4.2 and 3.1% of their weight, respectively, after 48 h storage in the cold room at 0°C. The bone content of carcasses of rams and wethers was 23.4 and 21.3% respectively. The longissimus dorsi ‘loin eye’ area at the 12th rib was 8.6 sq. cm. for rams and wethers. The proportions of wholesale cuts in ram and wether carcasses were comparable, whereas the proportions of slaughter by-products varied between the two. Mean weight of kidney fat in wethers was 50% greater than in intact rams, but the messentric and caul fat was heavier in rams than in wethers. Ram carcasses had higher specific gravity than those of wether carcasses. Specific gravity was negatively correlated with fat content and positively correlated with protein, moisture and ash content of the edible meat of the carcass. The regression equations relating specific gravity to the major chemical components of meat had too high standard errors to be of predictive value in practice.