• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.127-133
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• 2021

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the correlation between body size traits, carcass traits, and primal cuts in Hanwoo steers. Methods: Sixty-one beef carcasses were classified for conformation and primal cut weight. Additionally, carcass weight, fat thickness, carcass dimensions, and longissimus muscle area were determined to complement the grading. Results: The average live weight and cold carcass weight were 759 and 469 kg, respectively. The mean carcass meat, fat, and bone proportions were 551, 298, and 151 g/kg, respectively. Primal cuts weights showed significant positive correlations (p<0.001) of 0.42 to 0.82 with live weight, carcass weight, and longissimus muscle area and a significant negative correlation with carcass fat (without shank, -0.38 to -0.10). Primal cut weights were positively correlated (p<0.01) with carcass length (0.41 to 0.77), forequarter length (0.33 to 0.57), 6th lumbar vertebrae-heel length (0.33 to 0.59), 7th cervical vertebrae carcass breadth (0.35 to 0.58), 5th to 6th thoracic vertebrae breadth (0.36 to 0.65), 7th to 8th thoracic vertebrae girth (0.38 to 0.63), and coxae girth (0.34 to 0.56) and non-significantly related to cervical vertebrae length and coxae thickness. Conclusion: There was a high correlation among live weight, carcass weight, longissimus muscle area, carcass length, 7th cervical vertebrae carcass breadth, 5th to 6th thoracic vertebrae breadth, and 7th to 8th thoracic vertebrae girth of the primal cuts yield. The correlation between fat and primal cut yields was highly significant and negative. Carcass length and 7th to 8th thoracic vertebrae girth, appear to be the most important traits affecting primal cut yields.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.412-426
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• 2023

Currently, pigs breed in Korea are LYD (Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc) crossbred pigs. Pigs used as fresh meat are gilts and barrows. However, the current supply of pork is not satisfying Korean consumers. In addition, the comparison of carcasses between gilts and barrows only studies carcass weight, backfat thickness, or meat quality, and there are very few studies comparing carcass characteristics. The purpose of this study was to compare characteristics of 7 primal cuts of gilts and barrows as measured by AutoFom III. A total of 350,179 pigs were used, including 176,461 gilts and 173,718 barrows. Characteristics of seven primal cuts were measured using AutoFom III. In the case of carcass weight, there was no significant difference in grade 1+. For all other survey items except for grade 2, gilts showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher values. For all grades except for pork belly, amounts of the remaining six primal cuts were higher in gilts (all p < 0.05,). In addition, the ratio of intermuscular fat in the pork belly of barrows showed a higher value than that in the pork belly of gilts (p < 0.05). The amount of pork belly, which is the most popular among consumers in Korea, not only produced more production than gilts in barrows, but also showed a higher value than gilts in barrows for the ratio of intermuscular fat affecting taste. In summary, gilts produced higher yields than barrows in all parts except pork belly. For the production of only pork belly, barrows showed higher production than gilts.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.373-380
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• 2013

The study aimed to develop prediction models of primal cut yield using body measurements of Hanwoo steers in Korea. The progeny of 874 steers at Hanwoo Improvement Main Center from 2008 to 2010 were recorded. Pearson's correlation coefficients for primal cuts and other traits were estimated. Primal cuts were adjusted for slaughter date and age using the SAS GLM procedure. Afterwards, a stepwise regression was performed on each primal cut by fitting body measurement traits. An independent covariable was selected at the highest coefficient of determination with the greater fitness model using Mallows's Cp statistic. Results showed that primal cuts were significantly influenced by slaughter date (P<0.01). The age at slaughter, however, was only significant for the top round (P<0.05). There was a moderate to high correlation between chest girth and tenderloin (0.54), loin (0.74), and rib (0.80). Most primal cut percentages were negatively related to BFT. Similar negative to low positive correlations were observed for primal cut percentage and body size traits. In addition, a correlation of 0.21 was observed between rib percentage and chest girth. The regression of body measurements on the adjusted primal cuts were significant for later traits. Regression estimates revealed that wither height, body length, rump length, hip bone width, and chest girth are important for primal cut weight and percentage determination. In particular, chest girth was always important for primal cut weight estimates.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.77-92
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the carcass characteristics and the primal cut yields from carcasses according to the sex of Hanwoo. Experimental animals comprised of 80 cows, 29 bulls, and 71 steers. After slaughtering, they were evaluated to estimate the productivity of carcass components by market weight, and to predict the beef carcass yield. The average of fasting weight of cow, bull and steer were 634.75 kg, 721.86 kg, and 754.10 kg respectively. Market weight of Hanwoo at cold carcass weight, primal lean cut weight, sub-primal lean cut weight, bone weight and fat weight were 381.01~467.60 kg, 240.79~310.36 kg, 208.27~276.47 kg, 57.23~76.28 kg and 89.19~138.97 kg respectively. Body measurement traits had side length, hindquarter length, cervical vertebrae length, lumbar vertebrae length, sacral vertebrae length, 6th lumbar vertebrae~heel length, 5~6th thoracic vertebrae breadth, 4~5th lumbar vertebrae breadth, 5th sacral vertebrae breadth, 7~8th thoracic vertebrae girth and 7~8th thoracic vertebrae thick were highest length in steer. Carcass weight (CW) were significantly (p<0.05) affected by sex and live weight. The lean meat percentage, fat percentage and bone percentage based on the weight of cold carcasses were significantly different (p<0.05) between sex groups. The primal cuts rate for deungsim, moksim, abdari, udun, suldo, yangjee and satae were higher in bulls than those of the caws and steers. The carcass by-product weight rate in steer had lower oxtail and rib cartilage than cow and bull, while cow showed lower beef leg bones and jappyeo than bull steer (p<0.05). Body measurement traits was always important for primal cut weight estimates.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1258-1269
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• 2022

Objective: For improving meat quality especially tenderness, male cattle are usually castrated to removes both the testicles. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect castration method (half- and complete-castration) on meat yield and quality characteristics of Hanwoo male cattle. Methods: Thirty-two similar age (5.9 months) Hanwoo male calves were divided into: half-castration (HC) and complete-castration (CC) groups (n = 16 per group). At 7 months of age, all the animals were castrated in which the HC calves had only one testicle surgically removed while, the CC calves had both testicles surgically removed. The castrated animals were reared under identical conditions until 25 months of age. After slaughter, the carcasses were evaluated for carcass traits and meat yield of primal cuts. For examination of the castration effect on meat quality, L. lumborum and semimembranosus muscles were used. The meat samples were analyzed for chemical composition, color, pH, shear force and water holding capacity, fatty acids, metabolites and volatile aroma compounds. Results: The HC group showed higher meat yields of all primal cuts (p<0.05). As a result, the total meat yield was higher by approximately 44 kg in the HC group (303.32 kg, corresponding to 67.88%) compared to the CC group (259.30 kg, corresponding to 62.11%) (p<0.05). In terms of meat quality, the HC resulted in two times greater fat content in both muscles examined compared to intact males. More importantly, the shear force values did not differ between HC and CC groups for L. lumborum muscles (p>0.05). The meat from HC animals exhibited higher amount of free amino acids associated with sweetness (p<0.05). Furthermore, the castration method only exhibited a negligible effect on metabolites and volatile aroma compounds in the cooked meat. Conclusion: Half-castration emerged as an alternative practice to be used for increasing the yield and tenderness of male cattle meat.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.211-222
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• 2011

The present review was aimed to assess the feasibility of increasing the slaughter weight (SW) of finishing pigs. Growth performance, including ADG, ADFI and gain:feed, does not change significantly with increasing SW between 110 and $135{\pm}5kg$ in lean-genotype pigs, whereas in non-lean pigs, ADG and gain:feed decrease with increasing SW within the similar range of BW. Backfat thickness (BFT) and marbling of the carcass, which are greater in barrows than in gilts, increase with the increase of SW. The SW could be increased by using a low-energy diet and thereby reducing the rate of fat deposition per weight gain. The yield of the belly increases with the increase of SW, which may be economically significant in Korea. However, yields of some other primal cuts do not change so much as to affect the carcass value. The redness and fat content of the muscle increase slightly with the increase of SW whereas moisture content is minimally influenced by SW. Muscular protein content rarely changes, but sometimes increases slightly, with increasing SW. Other physicochemical characteristics, including lightness, pH, drip loss, and cooking loss of the muscle, are barely influenced by SW. Marbling of fresh loin and ham increases with increasing SW. Sensory characteristics of fresh loin, ham, and belly, including color, aroma, off-flavor, drip, and acceptability, are not influenced significantly by SW. The eating quality of cooked pork also has almost no relation to SW. In conclusion, it is thought that the current SW for moderately lean barrows and gilts can be raised up to 125 and 135 kg, respectively, with BFT at these weights predicted to be approximately 24 mm near the last rib, without compromising the meat quality.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.20.1-20.11
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• 2016

The present review has mainly focused on the specific parameters including aging (aging days, temperature, relative humidity, and air flow), eating quality (flavor, tenderness and juiciness), microbiological quality and economic (shrinkage, retail yields and cost) involved beef dry aging process. Dry aging is the process where beef carcasses or primal cuts are hanged and aged for 28 to 55 d under controlling environment conditions in a refrigerated room with $0^{\circ}$ to $4^{\circ}C$ and with relative humidity of 75 to 80 %. However there are various opinions on dry aging procedures and purveyors of such products are passionate about their programs. Recently, there has been an increased interest in dry aging process by a wider array of purveyors and retailers in the many countries. Dry aging process is very costly because of high aging shrinkage (6 to 15 %), trims loss (3 to 24 %), risk of contamination and the requirement of highest grades meat with. The packaging in highly moisture-permeable bag may positively impact on safety, quality and shelf stability of dry aged beef. The key effect of dry aging is the concentration of the flavor that can only be described as "dry-aged beef". But the contribution of flavor compounds of proteolysis and lipolysis to the cooked dry aged beef flavor is not fully known. Also there are limited scientific studies of aging parameters on the quality and palatability of dry aged beef.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.493-502
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• 2006

The slaughter weight (wt) is a most important economic factor in swine roduction. The present study was undertaken to determine if it is feasible to increase the slaughter wt of finishing pigs to 130kg without significantly affecting the growth efficiency and carcass quality. One hundred and sixty gilts and 160 barrows born from lean-type Yorkshire×Landrace (YL)-dam and Duroc (D)-sire lines, which are most widely used for terminal breeding for pork production in Gyeongsangnam-do, were randomly allocated into 16 pens under a 2 (sex)×2 (slaughter wt; 110 vs. 130kg) factorial arrangement of treatments. The animals were fed ad libitum a diet containing 3,200kcal DE/kg and 15.5% crude protein. After slaughter at the predetermined wt, yields of trimmed primal cuts and physicochemical characteristics of the longissimus dorsi muscle (LD) were measured or analyzed. Average daily gain was greater (P<0.01) in barrows than in gilts (0.86 vs. 0.79kg), but it was not different between the 110- and 130-kg slaughter wt groups (P>0.05). Backfat thickness was greater in the 130- vs. 110-kg group in both sexes (gilts: 21.6 vs. 17.6 mm, barrows: 25.1 vs. 20.8 mm). The yield percentage of belly was greater in barrows than in gilts (21.2 vs. 20.5%) and also in the 130-kg vs. 110-kg group (21.4 vs. 20.2%). Major physicochemical characteristics of LD including the color, percentage of 48-h drip loss, 24-h pH and percentages of crude protein and fat were not influenced by slaughter wt. Marginal profit of the 130-kg vs. 110-kg market pig was approximately 󰠏20,000 won/head, which resulted primarily from the heavy carcass weight of the former exceeding the upper limit of the A- or B-grade. However, if it had not been for the carcass weight limit of the current grading system, a 130-kg market pig would have had a potential marginal profit greater than 20,000 won. Results suggest that slaughter wt of lean-line finishing pigs can be increased to 130kg without significantly compromising the growth efficiency and carcass quality and accordingly, the upper weight limit of the ‘good-grade’ carcass needs to be increased or abolished to accommodate the larger market pigs.