Sheep Scanning School August 23 rd /24 th Hettinger, ND Agenda - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Sheep Scanning School

August 23rd/24th Hettinger, ND

Agenda

• Tuesday AM

– Meet and Greet – Educational Session

• Why?
• How?
• When?
• Tuesday PM

– Practice Image Collection

• Wednesday AM

– Certification

Meet and Greet!!!

Why is this Important to the Sheep Industry?

Sheep Profit Breakdown

• Lamb

– 85% of gross income

• Wool

– 15% of gross income

Carcass Facts!

• 50% dressing yield
• 50% BCTRC
• 95% lamb grade Choice
• Lamb yield grade

– YG = (10*BF) + 0.4

Rib-eye area is not measured!!!

Cutability and USDA Yield Grade.

YG % Cutability 1.0 51.0 1.5 50.35 2.0 49.7 2.5 49.05 3.0 48.4 3.5 47.75 4.0 47.1 4.5 46.45 5.0 45.8 5.9 45.15

BCTRC = boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts

Live Carcass Contest Equation: BCTRC = (49.936-(0.0848*HCWT)- (4.376*BF)-(3.53*BW)+(2.456*REA))

Savell and Smith, 2000

Carcass Value

Clearly, improving size of loin eye area has the most potential to improve lamb carcass value!

• Carcass

– $268

• Racks and Loins

– $111 (42%)

• Legs

– $94 (35%)

• Shoulders

– $50 (19%)

Scanning Facts!

• Best Quantitative Measure of Carcass Merit.
• Leeds et al. (JAS, 2008)

– 1 SD of LM area equals

• ~1% increase in dressing percent
• $3.15 gross carcass value
• $3.86 boxed carcass value

Opportunity for Improvement

Table 2: Leeds et al. Table 1: Emenheiser et al.

2.5 in2 = 16.1 cm2 3.0 in2 = 19.4 cm2

Heritability of Several Traits

Traits Percentage Number born 10% 60 day 10% 120 day wt 20% 240 day wt 40% Fat Thickness 30% Rib-eye area 35% Carcass wt 40% Wt of trimmed cuts 45%

Summary

• Lamb is the #1 product for sheep production
• Rib-eye area is the #1 predictor carcass value
• What it Means to Producers?

– No direct payments to lambs with larger rib-eyes – Slight increases in dressing percent – Improving the rib-eye area of lamb will improve consumer acceptance of American lamb – Most value in terminal sire flocks and direct marketing

The End