Prediction of lamb carcass composition and classification of Canadian lambs by saleable meat yield

The majority of North-American consumers perceive lamb as a product of low value due to its high proportion of fat and low proportion of lean. Consequently, lamb carcass composition must change to meet consumer demand for the North-American sheep industry to survive. Key to altering lamb carcass composition are methods of predicting carcass composition both in and ex vivo. Traditional, subjective in vivo methods limit the upstream flow of information through the lamb supply channel. As an alternative to subjective methods, in vivo ultrasound measurement of subcutaneous fat at the first lumbar vertebra predicted saleable meat yield with a precision (R...