Effect of the production system on the regional composition and offal distribution of Payoya goat kids

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of production system (conventional vs. organic) on the regional composition and offal distribution of Payoya goat kids. Twenty-four intact male kids (12 from conventional system and 12 from organic system) were used. Both groups came from twin births occurring in October, 2006. Goat kids were raised with natural goat milk and slaughtered at 8.9 kg live weight. After chilling, carcasses were splitted along the dorsal midline. The left side was divided into six standarized primal cuts (long leg, shoulder, neck, ribs, flanks and tail). The loin weight was recorded. Kidney fat and pelvic fat weight was also recorded; the same as was done with the components of the offal distribution (kidneys, blood, skin, head, fore/hind feet, testis, penis, heart, lung/trachea, liver, spleen, gastro-intestinal tract and timus). The effect of production system was evaluated on each studied variable. Left side carcasses were heavier for kids raised conventionally compared with organic farm-raised kids (2.32 vs. 2.18 kg; p<0.05). There were no differences in regional composition, except for shoulder (21.47 vs. 22.38 %, for kids from conventional and organic production systems, respectively; p<0.05). Regarding the offal distribution, kidneys weight, skin weight, timus weight and weight of all these parts of the carcass were also significantly lighter (p<0.05) in carcasses originating in the organic system than the conventional farm-raised kids. We can conclude that, from this study, the production system does not have an important effect on regional composition of kids; however, offal distribution showed higher scores in suckling Payoya kids from conventional system than kids from organic system