Abstract:
Proc. Aust. Soc. Anim. Prod. (1978) 12: 237 THE EFFECT OF VARYING PERIODS OF MAINTENANCE OF LIVE WEIGHT ON SOME BODY COMPONENTS OF SHEEP D.M. MURRAY* and O. SLEZACEK** Searle and Graham (1975) have shown that the empty body of sheep subjected to a prolonged period of liveweight maintenance contained more water and less protein than unrestricted animals of a similar live weight. Little information is available, however, of the effect of weight stasis on the separate parts of the body. A study was made of the effect of varying periods of liveweight maintenance on both carcass and non-carcass parts. Sixteen castrate male progeny of Border Leicester x Merino ewes and Dorset Horn rams were transferred from pasture to individual pens when their mean live weight was 27.6 kg. They were fed a pelleted. mixture of lucerne (80%) and cereal grain (20%) m- to 30 kg when four animals were killed. ad libitum The remaining 12 animals were fed to maintain this live weight and killed after 25, 50 or 75 days. After slaughter, carcass and noncarcass parts were weighed and one side of each carcass was dissected into muscle, bone and fat. Results are shown in the table. TABLE 1: Effect of varying periods of liveweight maintenance on carcass (% side wt) and non-carcass (% empty body wt) parts of sheep. Only carcass weight, the liver, the kidneys and gut tissue were affected by the liveweight maintenance treatments imposed. Both carcass and gut fat were not affected which suggests that neither fat depot was a source of energy during maintenance of live weight. SEARLE, T-W. and GRAHAM, N. McC. (1975). Aust. J. agric. Res. 26: - 355, * School of Wool and Pastoral Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, N.S.W., 2033. ** Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Richmond, N.S.W., 2753. 237.
