Phenotypic aspects of growth and carcass quality in veal calves

Abstract

Five hundred and ten Danish Red male calves slaughtered for the production of veal at live weights of approximately 200 kg were used to estimate carcass composition.Regression coefficients expressing the relationships between live weight and carcass components indicated that weight at 6 months of age consisted mostly of muscle development in the breast and hindquarters.Variation in all of the more important growth and carcass attributes was very small, which suggested that selection responses would be difficult to obtain.There was no apparent correlation between growth rate and the muscle, fat and bone components of the carcass. The best single indicator of the muscle content of the carcass was the muscle content of the pistol cut (r = 0·79), which itself involved complicated dissection procedures. The longissimus dorsi area provided relatively little information, and none of the body measurements, apart from the leg circumference, were strongly related to carcass composition.The predictive value of many combinations of traits was examined. The best of them accounted for 90% of the variation in muscle content, but when the pistol cut was excluded, none of the multiple correlation coefficients exceeded 0·8.