Study on carcass characteristics in Boer goat kids

Dimitar Panayotov

Abstract: The study was conducted with four single born Boer goat kids, weaned at 120 days. Slaughter was conducted in a certified abattoir, and afterwards a carcass analysis was performed. The average slaughter weight (SW) of the studied kids was 28.25 kg. The percentage of the head (6.89%), skin (6.85%), fore and hind feet (2.77%), removed directly after slaughter was a total 19.15% of the SW (5.41 kg). The received sub-products weighted 3.748 kg in total or 13.27% of SW – 3.65% in first and 9.59% in second class. From the sub-products, in first class the liver had the largest percentage (1.76%), and in second class – the intestines (3.75%) and stomach (2.50%). From the stomach, the rumen had the largest percentage (63.12%), followed by the true stomach (16.32), and the lowest (7.80%) was the omasum. The weight ratio between the small and large intestines was 62.74%:37.26%. The average hot carcass weight (HCW) of the studied kids was 13.65 kg, and the cold carcass weight (CCW) – 13.43 kg, while chilling losses were 1.58%. The dressing out was very good in both estimation methods – 50.00% (according to BSS 4348-78) and 47.54% (according to Simela et al., 2011). The kidneys and kidney fat weighed 0.70 kg (5.18% from the CCW), and all internal fats had a total weight 0.86 kg and were 6.38% from the CCW. There were no separable subcutaneous fats on the carcasses.
According to the linear carcass measurements, the average carcass length was 53.50 сm, the chest width – 15.25 cm, and the carcass compactness index – 0.251. The leg length and leg large circumference had almost identical values – 34.50 сm and 34.12 сm, and the leg compactness index was 0.989. In the retail cuts of the cold carcasses made according BSS 4348-78 was discovered that the shoulder had biggest percentage of the CCW– 40.80%. The percentages of the other parts of the carcass are respectively 32.46% for the leg, 12.67% for the cutlet, 7.74% for the neck, and 6.33% for the flank. The best meat:bone ratio was for the cutlet – 3.8:1, and lowest – for the leg 2.9:1. The neck and shoulder had similar values – around 3:1. The meat:bone ratio for the entire carcass was 3.1:1.

Keywords: Boer goat; capretto goat meat; carcass characteristics; linear carcass measurements; meat:bone ratio; primal carcass cuts

Date published: 2021-12-18