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Factors Affecting Dressing Percentage
Taken
from research presented in “Marketing Prime Goat Kids”
– Paul Greenwood, et.al. New South Wales Agriculture 1996
Dressing
percentages (calculated as (hot carcass weight /
liveweight) * 100) can vary widely for goat kids from about
35% to 55% with 45% being average for most kids with no Boer
breeding. Kids with higher fat scores generally have higher
dressing percentages than kids of the same liveweight with
lower fat scores.
Dressing percentage is affected by:
-
live weight
-
fatness -an increase in one fat
score will increase dressing percentage by about 2.5%,
fatter kids also suffer less live weight and carcass weight
loss from fasting prior to slaughter than do leaner kids
-
time off feed and water - this
affects gut fill and therefore live weight. Liveweight
percentage losses average 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, and 12%
for goats off feed 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours
respectively. Goats coming off lush pastures will generally
have a higher dressing percentage than goats on drier feeds
if live weight is calculated only a short time after animals
are off feed because lush feed passes through the gut
faster)
-
pre-slaughter fasting and stress
- affects dressing percentage because of its influence on
gut fill and carcass weight loss. If animals are deprived of
feed for 6 or more hours, carcass weight will start to
decrease and dressing percentage will actually drop even
though the goat's live weight is also decreasing. Carcass
weight loss is 2-2.5%, 3-4%, and 6-7% after a 12, 24, 48
hour fast, respectively. Deprivation of water results in
another 2% loss in carcass weight
-
skin weight - determined by type
of goat and shearing. Skin weight generally averages about
9% of the live weight for a short-haired or shorn goat kid,
but can be as high as 15% for an unshorn angora kid
-
sex - doe kids tend to be
slightly fatter than buck kids of the same weight in the
same herd. However, this difference is so slight it rarely
affects dressing percentage noticeably
-
breed
-
weaning - weaned kids tend to
have a lower dressing percentage than suckling kids of
similar fatness and liveweight.
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