The influence of artificial rearing and live weight at slaughter on kid carcass characteristics

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the effects of natural suckling vs a milk replacer diet and two slaughter weights (6 vs 10 kg) on carcass characteristics of kids. Forty mate twins, Canary Caprine kids were randomly allocated to one of four treatments. Two groups were reared With their Dams (WD) while the other two were reared using a Milk Replacer (MR). Two end point live weights (LWS; 6 and 10 kg) were used for each feeding system. WD Kids grew faster (32%) than MR. The empty body weight, hot carcass weight and Cold Carcass Weight (CCW) were higher in the 10-kg compared to the 6-kg kids. In relation to carcass conformation measures and indices, there were differences (p<0.01) between the two diets for carcass length and leg length measurements. No effects of diet or LWS were observed for the percentage of primal cuts. WD kids were fatter than MR kids. The kids slaughtered at 10 kg LWS were fatter and less bony than 6 kg kids. The results showed that suckling method had few effects on carcass quality, but increasing slaughter weight substantially improved carcass quality.