Carcass yield and leanness in sheep and goats slaughtered in trinidad – A field study

A study was conducted to assess carcass yield and leanness of sheep and goats slaughtered in Trinidad and Tobago (West Indies). From December 2017 to March 2018, a total of 33 sheep and 27 goats and their carcasses were evaluated prior and post-slaughter at two butcher shops. Antemortem observations included age, sex, system of management, body weight and the body condition score (BCS). Following slaughter, carcass and non-carcass components were weighed and the fat deposition on the flank was visually assessed as the flank streaking score (FSS). The difference in average pre-slaughter weight was non-significant with the values of 29.00±0.14 kg for sheep and 27.70±2.50 kgfor goats.The BCS in a scaleof 1 to5 for sheep was 1.14±0.06 andfor goats 1.05±0.07 (p=0.318). The mean dressing per cent (DP) for sheep and goats was 47.57±0.68 and 45.32±0.68, respectively with significant difference (p=0.024). Male goats had significantly (p=0.001) lower DP than male sheep; however, there was no significant difference between female sheep and goats. The results of multiple regression analysis of DPand FSS on species, sex, age, management system and BCS showed that species and intensive system of management had a significant effect on the DP, whereas the FSS of the carcass was significantly (p=0.001) influenced by sex, age, intensive system of management and the BCS. The study showed that sheep and goats slaughtered ranged between 25 and 30 kg with their mean BCS being less than 1.5. Thus, it can be concluded that there exists opportunities to produce sheep and goats of desired characters by manipulation of management system, cullingage andBCS to obtainleancarcasses.