MEAT YIELDS FROM HOLSTEIN VEAL CALVES

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MEAT YIELDS FROM HOLSTEIN VEAL CALVES LTHOUGH veal calves are generally con- A sidered as a "by-product" of the dairy industry, considerable interest in commercial veal production has arisen in

1 MEAT YIELDS FROM HOLSTEIN VEAL CALVES LTHOUGH veal calves are generally con- A sidered as a "by-product" of the dairy industry, considerable interest in commercial veal production has arisen in recent years. Little research has been reported concerning the effect of the liveweight of veal calves upon the meat yield and cutting percent from their carcasses. Without adequate information in this area, both the producer and packer are handicapped. With additional information, improved market utilization of the calves may be possible. The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of liveweight upon the slaughter yield, carcass meat yield and the meat tissue proximate chemical composition of male Holstein veal calves. Materials and Methods Fifty-one male Holstein veal calves were placed in one of three weight groups for this study. Group I was composed of 23 initial weight bob calves with a mean slaughter weight of 44.3, judged to be 3 to 4 days old by the condition of their navel cords. The 16 calves of Group II, with a mean slaughter weight of 89.5, were 8 to 11 weeks of age. The 12 calves of Group III, with a mean slaughter weight of 131.2, were 13 to 14 weeks of age. Calves of Group I were obtained from the university dairy herds and local auction markets, while calves of Group II and Group III were obtained from two commercial slaughter veal producers. The calves of the two heavier weight groups were raised in slat stalls on commercial milkreplacer rations containing 20 to 24% protein and 16 to 25% fat. The calves were slaughtered in the Department of Animal Science abattoir in accordance with the practices normally employed in the laboratory. Weights of hide and liver were obtained immediately after removal from the C. J. BREKKE 1 AND G. I-I. WELLINGTON Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 2 1Present address: Meat and Animal Science Department, University of Wisconsin. This paper represents part of a thesis submitted to the Graduate School, Cornell University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the M.S. degree. The research reported was supported by funds from Hatch Project No Department of Animal Science. 6 carcass, recorded to the nearest 45 gm., and expressed as percent of liveweight. After being weighed for determination of warm dressing percent, each dressed carcass was washed, placed in a large polyethylene bag to reduce dehydration, and chilled at 1 ~ C. in a relative humidity of 85% for approximately 48 hours. After being chilled, the carcasses were weighed. With Group I the entire carcass was used for cutting test. For Groups II and III the carcasses were split by sawing down the backbone and one side was randomly selected for the cutting test. The weights of parts from the two heavier groups were doubled to give the yields for the total carcass. The carcasses or sides were separated into selected wholesale cuts according to the specifications given by the National Association of Hotel and Restaurant Meat Purveyors (1961), as indicated in figure 1. All length measurements were made to the nearest 0.25 cm. and all weight measurements were made to the nearest 45 grams. The weight of each wholesale cut was recorded and converted to percent of carcass weight. The edible portion (fat and lean) was removed as completely as possible from the inedible portion (bone and tendon) for the foresaddle (Meat Purveyors Item No. 304); hindsaddle (Item No. 330); back (Item No. 341) and leg (Item No. 334). The weight of each portion was then recorded for determination of percent edible tissue. The edible tissue from each carcass was thoroughly chopped and mixed in a silent cutter and three samples from each carcass were taken. Analysis for Kjeldahl nitrogen, ether extract and ash were determined essentially as prescribed by A.O.A.C. (1965), substituting freeze-dried tissue for fresh samples. These data were analyzed statistically by analysis of variance as described by Henderson in A.S.A.P. (1960). Comparison between means was made by use of the t-test (Snedecor, 1956). Results and Discussion A summary of the liveweights, warm carcass weights and warm dressing percents for

MEAT YIELDS FROM CALVES 7 ~ORESADDLE HINDSADDLE SHOULDER BACK LEG RIB LOIN Figure 1. Points of separation of veal carcass to obtain selected wholesale cuts. / each weight group is~'given in table 1.

2 MEAT YIELDS FROM CALVES 7 ~ORESADDLE HINDSADDLE SHOULDER BACK LEG RIB LOIN Figure 1. Points of separation of veal carcass to obtain selected wholesale cuts. / each weight group is~'given in table 1. As expected, the dressing percent significantly (P K.05) increased with increasing liveweight of the calves. This was thought to have resulted from the greater amount of finish on the heavier calves. According to Butterfield, Pryor and Berg (1966), however, age is a more important factor than fatness in influencing the dressing percent of young calves due to the high rate of visceral growth. Hide and liver, expressed as percent of liveweight, were also considered a part of slaughter yields. The percent of hide was greater for the Group I calves than for either of the other two weight groups, whereas the percent liver was significantly (P~.01) greater for the Group II calves (table 2). No general trend existed for the animals used in this study with reference to the influence of liveweight upon percent hide and percent liver. These results appear to disagree with those of Schaars and Bray (1950) who found that the percent hide and percent liver steadily decreased with increasing liveweight. It is apparent that the slaughter yields increased with increasing liveweight of the calves. However, it is also apparent that this increase was a result of increasing dressed carcass weight and not greatly influenced by increases in hide and liver. The yields of the selected wholesale cuts are given in table 3. The foresaddle, as a percent of carcass weight, was significantly (P~.01) heavier for Group I calves than for Group II calves. Although the percent foresaddle was heavier for the Group III calves than for the Group II calves, the difference between the means was not significant. The means for percent hindsaddle indicated the reverse relationship between weight groups. It appeared that no general trend in percent foresaddle or hindsaddle was indicated with increasing carcass weight. It may be, however, that Groups II and III were actually part of the same statistical population. If this were the case, the data demonstrate that the percent foresaddle decreased and the percent hindsaddle increased with increasing TABLE 1. MEAN LIVEWEIGHT, WARM CARCASS WEIGHT AND WARM DRESSING PERCENT OF THREE WEIGHT GROUPS OF VEAL CALVES Liveweight Warm carcass wt. Warm dressing, % Wt. No. group no. of calves Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. I bc 0.7 II ab 0.4 III ac 0.7 a, b, c Means in the same column with similar superscripts are significantly different. (P~.05 for a, P~.O1 for b and c). L S.E.=,/n

BREKKE AND WELLINGTON TABLE 2. HIDE AND LIVER AS PERCENT OF LIVEWEIGHT FOR THREE WEIGHT GROUPS OF VEAL CALVES Hide % Wt. No. Mean group no. of calves liveweight Mean S.E. Mean Liver % S.E. I 23 44.

3 BREKKE AND WELLINGTON TABLE 2. HIDE AND LIVER AS PERCENT OF LIVEWEIGHT FOR THREE WEIGHT GROUPS OF VEAL CALVES Hide % Wt. No. Mean group no. of calves liveweight Mean S.E. Mean Liver % S.E. I b 0.2 II 16 89,5 6.1 bo 0.1 III ~ 0.2 b, e Means in the same column with similar superscripts are significantly different. (P~.01 for b and c). 2.2 b 0. I 2.7 bc c 0.1 carcass weight. In this study the foresaddle weights were greater than the hindsaddle weights for each of the weight groups. Increasing carcass weight of veal calves resulted in a nonsignificant increase in weight of the back when expressed as percent of carcass (table 3). The percent as leg, on the other hand, was found to significantly (1966). It is well to keep in mind that Groups II and III were fed liberally to their slaughter weights, and that Group I calves were slaughtered without benefit of growth and fattening. Boneless tissue yields for the Group II calves were similar to those obtained by Barton and Kirton (1961). Although the percent of carcass as fore- TABLE 3. FORESADDLE, HINDSADDLE, BACK AND LEG FOR THREE WEIGHT GROUPS OF VEAL AS PERCENT OF CARCASS WEIGHT Foresaddle Hindsaddle Back as Leg as as % carcass as % carcass % carcass a % carcass a Wt. No. of Mean group no. calves carcass wt. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. I be ,4 TM u 0.3 li b b r 0.2 III c c TM 0.2 a Based on 8 calves for Group I, rather than 23. b, e Means in the same column with similar superscripts are statistically different. (P~.01 for b and c). (P~.01) decrease with increasing carcass weight. Table 4 illustrates that percent of boneless, edible tissue was greater than the percent of inedible tissue for the carcass and for all wholesale cuts for each of the weight groups studied. Percent boneless tissue in the carcass significantly (P~.01) increased with increasing carcass weight which is in disagreement with the report of Butterfield et al. saddle was greater than the percent as hindsaddle for each weight group (table 3), table 4 indicates that the yield of boneless tissue from the foresaddle was less than that for the hindsaddle. The percent as boneless tissue in the selected wholesale cuts increased significantly at either the 0.01 or 0.05 level of confidence with increasing carcass weight. For each wholesale cut there was an increase in percent boneless tissue between Groups I TABLE 4. PERCENT YIELD OF BONELESS TISSUE FROM THE CARCASS, FORESADDLE, HINDSADDLE, BACK AND LEG FROM THREE WEIGHT GROUPS OF VEAL CALVES Boneless tissue as percent of selected unit Wt. Mean Carcass Foresaddle Hindsaddle Back e Leg e group No of carcass no. calves wt., Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. d.) I be TM be TM TM 1.1 II ba al~ ab bd ab 0.2 III ,0 ea a" ae 0, ca ae 0.5 a, b, c, a Means in the same column with similar superscripts are significantly different. (P~.05 for a, P~.01 for b, c, and Based on 8 calves for Group I, rather than 23.

MEAT YIELDS FROM CALVES TABLE 5. WEIGHT YIELD OF BONELESS TISSUE FROM THE CARCASS, FORESADDLE, HINDSADDLE, RACK AND LEG FROM THREE WEIGHT GROUPS OF VEAL Weight of boneless tissue Wt.

4 MEAT YIELDS FROM CALVES TABLE 5. WEIGHT YIELD OF BONELESS TISSUE FROM THE CARCASS, FORESADDLE, HINDSADDLE, RACK AND LEG FROM THREE WEIGHT GROUPS OF VEAL Weight of boneless tissue Wt. Mean Carcass Foresaddle Hindsaddle Back" Leg * group No. of carcass no. calves wt. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. I II III a Based on eight calves for Group I, rather than 23. and II of approximately 10 percentage points and between Groups II and III of only 2 percentage points. Therefore, a significantly (P<.01) higher yield of salable meat would be expected from calves of 90 than from initial weight calves. The increase in yield obtained by using calves heavier than 90 (approximately 2 percentage points) would not likely be warranted in view of the increased costs. The mean weight yield for carcass, foresaddle, hindsaddle, back and leg for each weight group is given in table 5. Differences in weight of boneless tissue were apparent and no analysis of variance was conducted on these data. The results of the proximate chemical analysis of the boneless veal tissue are given in table 6. As expected, there was a significant (P<.01) decrease in percent water as the mean liveweight increased. This decrease was greatest for the tissue of calves of Group I and Group II. It is apparent that the decrease in percent water with increasing liveweight was compensated by a sharp, significant (P<.01) increase in percent fat (ether extract). The percent protein decreased significantly (P<.01) than increased nonsignificantly as liveweight increased by group intervals. The percent ash remained at a fairly constant level for all weight groups, but differences between the means were significant at either P<.01 or P<.05. These findings are in agreement with those for the whole empty bovine body reported by Moulton (1923) and Reid, Wellington and Dunn (1955), but differed from those reported by Ellenberger, Newlander and Jones (1950). Summary A total of 51 Holstein calves were slaughtered within three liveweight groups as follows: I. initial weight, bob calves with a mean weight of 44.3, II. calves reared to a mean weight of 89.5 and III. calves reared to a mean weight of kilograms. The two heavier weight groups were raised on commercial milk replacer rations which contained 20 to 24% protein and 16 to 25% fat. Mean dressing percents and standard errors for the calves in order of increasing weight groups were and , respectively. Livers expressed as percent of liveweight were significantiy heavier ( ) from Group I calves than from Group II calves (2.2 and Group III calves (2.1 The initial weight calves had a significantly larger proportion of carcass weight in foresaddle and in wholesale legs. Conversely, the initial weight, bob calves were significantly lower in percent of carcass weight as hindsaddle and lower in percent of carcass weight as back. The percent of boneless meat from the carcass and from all selected wholesale cuts significantly increased with increasing carcass weight. Yields of boneless meat TABLE 6. PROXIMATE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE BONELESS TISSUE FROM THREE WEIGHT GROUPS OF VEAL CALVES %water %protein %fat %ash Wt. No. of Mean group no. calves liveweight Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Mean S.E. Z[ TM bc TM ab 0.02 II bd ~ bd bc 0.02 III ea c ea a~ 0.02 a, ~, r d Means in the same column with similar superscripts are significantly different. (P<.05 for a, P~.01 for b, c and d).

5 10 BREKKE AND WELLINGTON from the carcasses were and 62.7 respectively, in the three slaughter weight groups. Expressed as percents of carcass weights, the yields of boneless meat were and 76.0 A significant decrease in the water content of the boneless tissue with increasing carcass weight was compensated by a significant increase in percent of ether extract. The percent of protein decreased significantly then increased nonsignificantly with increasing liveweight. Differences in percent ash were essentially negligible although the tissue of Group I calves contained a significantly lower percent of ash. Literature Cited A.O.A.C Official Methods of Analysis (10th ed.). Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. Washington, D. C. A.S.A.P Techniques and Procedures in Animal Production Research. Am. Soc. An. Prod. Barton, R. A. and A. H. Kirton A comparison of whole milk with buttermilk in the rearing of calves for veal. 2. Slaughter and carcass composition data. An. Prod. 3:41. Butterfield, R. M., W. J. Pryor and R. T. Berg A study of carcass growth in calves. Res. in Vet. Sci. 7:417. Ellenberger, H. B., J. A. Newlander and C. H. Jones Composition of the bodies of dairy cattle. Vermont Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul Moulton, C. R Age and chemical development in mammals. J. Biol. Chem. 57:79. National Association of Hotel and Restaurant Meat Purveyors Meat Buyer's Guide to Standardized Meat Cuts. 100 W. Monroe St., Chicago, Ill. Reid, J. T., G. H. Wellington and H. O. Dunn Some relationships among the major chemical components of the bovine body and their application to nutritional investigations. J. Dairy Sci. 38:1344. Schaars, M. A. and R. W. Bray Pricing veal calves. Wise. Exp. Sta. Res. Bul Snedecor, G. W Statistical Methods (8th ed.). Iowa State College Press, Ames, Iowa.

Dairy producers add to the beef supply: Veal Dairy Beef Fed cattle Market Cows Non fed

Dairy producers add to the beef supply: Veal Dairy Beef Fed cattle Market Cows Non fed Carol Gillis New York Beef Council You pay the Beef Checkoff and fellow dairy producers represent you at the state