We present estimates of heritability for carcass traits of cattle published in the scientific literature. Seventy-two papers published from 1962 to 2004, which reported estimates of heritability for carcass traits, were reviewed. The unweighted means of estimates of heritability for 14 carcass traits by slaughter end point (age, weight, and fat depth) were calculated. Among the three end points...

The heritability of carcass quality traits and the genetic correlations between wool production and these carcass quality traits were estimated on 1216 Merino rams. The results showed that carcass quality traits are moderately heritable but pH appears to be lowly heritable. Yellowness and redness of L. dorsi had very low heritability estimate. Moderate negative genetic relationships were found ...

The objectives of this study were 1) to investigate the effect of changes in carcass market prices due to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) occurrences on estimates of genetic parameters and economic weights for carcass traits; and 2) to compare direct and indirect approaches for prediction of genetic merit of Japanese Black cattle for profitability of their progeny. The direct approach ut...

(Co)variance component estimates were computed for retail cuts per day of age (kilograms per day), cutability (percentage of carcass weight), and marbling score (1 through 11) using a multiple-trait sire model. Restricted maximum likelihood estimates of (co)variance components were obtained via an expectation-maximization algorithm. Carcass data consisted of 8,265 progeny records collected by U...

Analyses were conducted to develop and test the efficacy of beef carcass cutability prediction equations. Data from 1,602 calf-fed steer carcasses (Germplasm Utilization Project; GPU) were used to develop the equations and an additional 1,160 calf-fed steer carcasses (Germplasm Evaluation Project; GPE) were used to validate the equations. In both experimental groups, USDA yield grade ranged fro...

The association between carcass and ham traits in a pig population used to produce dry-cured ham was studied using canonical correlation analysis. The carcass traits examined were hot carcass weight (HCW), backfat thickness (BT) and loin depth (LD), and the ham traits studied were gross ham weight (GHW), trimmed ham weight (THW), ham inner layer fat thickness (HIFT), ham outer layer fat thickne...

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic correlations between calving difficulty score and carcass traits in Charolais and Hereford cattle, treating first and later parity calvings as different traits. Genetic correlations between birth weight and carcass traits were also estimated. Field data on 59,182 Charolais and 27,051 Hereford calvings, and carcass traits of 5,260 Charolais and...

An exhaustive review of estimates of heritability (h) for a broad spectrum of beef production traits published in the scientific literature from 1945 to 1991 was conducted by Koots et al. (1994), but their review did not include other important carcass traits (e.g., kidney, pelvic, and heart fat percentage, yield grade, fat weight) and due to the purpose of their study, individual estimates of ...

Muscular and lean market lambs grow more efficiently and produce a meat product more preferred by the consumer compared to poorly muscled and fat lambs. Therefore, a case can be made for selection of breeding stock, especially within the terminal sire breeds like Suffolk and Hampshire, for desired carcass composition. Since breeding stock cannot be slaughtered in order to obtain carcass measure...

The steer progeny of sires genetically diverse for fatness and meat yield were grown at different rates from weaning to feedlot entry and effects on growth, carcass and meat-quality traits were examined. The present paper, the second of a series, reports the effects of genetic and growth treatments on carcass traits. A total of 43 sires, within three ‘carcass class’ categories, defined as high ...