the possibility of in vivo carcass trait prediction using the ultrasound measurements obtained between 12th and 13th ribs was studied. attention was paid to several carcass traits such as carcass backfat thickness (cbft), carcass longissimus dorsi muscle (clma) and carcass weight (hcw). also, the effects of the flock, as the fixed effects, and body weight (bw), as covariate, on these traits wer...

The establishment and evaluation of an assessment system to accredit sonographers for measuring the carcass traits of subcutaneous fat depths and longissimus muscle area (LMA) on potential breeding animals by real-time ultrasound is described. Repeatability of operators, variation between the animal's left and right sides, and variations in technique were assessed from measurements and repeat m...

Carcass data from more than 4,400 Southdown x Romney ewe and wether lambs collected over a 16-yr period were analyzed for the effects of sex, rearing status, and growth rate. Ewe lambs grew more slowly than wethers and had .78 kg less carcass weight at the same age. The carcass weight advantage for wethers was nearly all caused by heavier fat-free weight. Based on fat depths, the fat on ewe lam...

In three separate studies (156 pigs total), dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), bioelectrical impedance (BIA) and ultrasound were compared as methods for measuring live body composition of pigs at 60 and 100-110 kg BWt. DXA measured total body fat and lean content, BIA measurements of resistance (Rs) and reactance (Xc) were used to calculate total body lean mass and ultrasound measurements ...

Use of lamb BW or chilled carcass weights (CCW), live-animal ultrasound or direct carcass measurements of backfat thickness (BF; mm) and LM area (LMA; cm2), and carcass body wall thickness (BWall; mm) to predict carcass yield and value was evaluated using 512 crossbred lambs produced over 3 yr by mating Columbia, U.S. Meat Animal Research Center Composite, Suffolk, and Texel rams to adult Rambo...

Near-infrared (NIR) interactance was evaluated as a potentially new method for estimating live body and carcass composition of pigs. Using a surface placed fiber optic probe, measurements of the live animal and carcass were made on a total of 120 pigs. These measurements were compared with lipid and protein content of soft tissue dissected from the pig carcass. NIR results were evaluated using ...

Live animal and carcass data were collected from market barrows and gilts (n = 120) slaughtered at a regional commercial slaughter facility to develop and test prediction equations to estimate carcass composition from live animal and carcass ultrasonic measurements. Data from 60 animals were used to develop these equations. Best results were obtained in predicting weight and percentage of bonel...