Tissue separation—to assess beef and lamb variation

Abstract

Since 1968, the Meat and Livestock Commission has been carrying out a considerable amount of tissue separation work on samples of cattle and sheep arising from its livestock improvement schemes. The purpose of this work has been to provide data on variation in carcass composition of these animals to relate to variation in production characteristics. From the point of view of the meat market, it is important when fast growing sires are selected for use, particularly by AI, that they should be known to be capable of producing offspring which, under normal feeding conditions, are no fatter than the mass market requires. The latter is known to favour the lean end of the fatness range, although there is still a market for fatter carcasses which are believed to have superior eating characteristics, but may require fat to be trimmed from them before and after they reach the plate. In order to describe market requirements more clearly than at present, the data being collected on variation in carcass composition and its prediction are being used to develop carcass classification schemes for cattle and sheep.