This work was performed at the Ovine Section of Animal Science Department, at Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the growth of the carcass cuts and percentages in relation to the empty body weight and cold carcass weight of lambs slaughtered at different weights. Twenty-two intact male lambs, sired by Texel males, from crossbreed Texel-Ideal dams were used. Four lambs were slaughtered at the beginning of the experiment (24 hours after birth) and three groups of six lambs were slaughtered at weaning and when reaching the weight of 28 and 33kg. The lambs were confined in individual stall together, with their respective mothers until weaning (45 days of age). To study the growth of the different cuts of the carcass, regression equation of the log. of the weight of each part, as a function of the log. of the empty body weight or cold carcass weight were fitted. The percentages of hindquarter, shoulder and neck in relation to the empty body weight were similar (P>0.05) in the weights studied, and of rib and backbone were different (P<0.05). In relation to the cold carcass weight the percentage of hindquarter, rib and neck showed difference (P<0.05). Among the cuts, the rib was late matured and the other cuts were early matured.
carcass cuts; growth coefficients; sheep
