The main objective of this work was to evaluate the weight gain and live weight components of intact or castrated lambs slaughtered at 12 months of age. Sixteen Ile de France lambs, half intact and half castrated, and eight castrated Hampshire Down lambs were used in this experiment. The animals were kept on a Coast-Cross pasture from three to 12 months of age, and then slaughtered. There were no differences between breeds for weight, weight gain and live weight components. However, intact Ile de France lambs had a greater daily weight gain than castrated Ile de France lambs, with averages of 0.078 and 0.063kg, respectively; the average daily weight gain for the castrated Hampshire Down was 0.064kg. The averages for live weight before slaughtering and hot dressing percentage were: 38.54, 36.08 and 36.44kg, and 47.51, 47.82 and 46.38%, respectively, for intact Ile de France, castrated Ile de France and castrated Hampshire Down lambs. The use of intact males is recommended, due their greater weight gain, when slaughter occurs at 12 months of age.
carcass; performance; ram; sheep; weight; wether
