CHEMICAL-COMPOSITION OF CARCASS SAWDUST RESIDUE AS A PREDICTOR OF THECHEMICAL-COMPOSITION OF SHEEP CARCASSES

Twenty sheep, ranging in body mass from 25 to 62 kg, were slaughtered to compare two methods of estimating the chemical composition of the c arcass. One half of each carcass was ground in a carcass grinder equip ped with a 6 mm sieve and a representative sample taken. The other hal f was frozen. The complete frozen half was sawed at 25 mm intervals in to 'chop' portions with a bandsaw. The tissue residue in the saw was c ollected. Moisture, fat, protein and ash percentages of the samples we re determined. The mean composition of the ground carcass and sawdust samples were respectively: moisture: 56.4 and 55.0% (r(2) = 0.737); fa t: 21.2 and 23.1% (r(2) = 0.923); protein: 16.6 and 16.1% (r(2) = 0.15 4) and ash: 4.7 and 5.5% (r(2) = 0.235). The correlations between samp ling techniques compare well with similar comparisons obtained from st udies with cattle and pigs. This suggests that a reliable estimate of the fat and moisture content of the carcass can be obtained from the s awdust residue. The technique can be recommended for use in growth and feeding trials with sheep at locations where sophisticated instrument s are not available to measure carcass composition.