The effect of sex and age at slaughter on some carcass and meat quality traits of Boer kids

This study investigated some carcass and meat quality traits of Boer kids (17 male and 17 female) at two different average slaughter ages (83 and 139 days). Jointed cuts of half carcasses arranged from the greatest to the smallest were: hind leg (28.5%), rib and flank (21.2%), shoulder (19.3%), back (8.5%), loin (7.9%), neck (7.6%) and chuck (3.4%). Male kids had significantly higher percentage of the neck cuts (p≤0.001) while females had significantly higher percentage of rib and flank cuts (p≤0.05). At higher slaughter ages neck (p≤0.05) and chuck (p≤0.001) percentages significantly decreased and rib and flank (p≤0.001) percentage significantly increased. On average, hind leg had 72.2 % of muscle, 8.6 % of fat and 18.8 % of bone. Female kids had higher muscle and lower bone hind leg content than males (p≤0.01). Hind leg bone content significantly decreased at higher slaughter age (p≤0.01). Meat from male kids displayed significantly higher cie L*(p≤0.001) and b*(p≤0.05) values than females. At higher slaughter age L* values significantly decreased (p≤0.01) while a* and b* values significantly increased (p≤0.001; p≤0.01).