Effect of age of young Simmental bulls on dressing percentage

Abstract

Considering the Serbia's potential and tradition in production of quality beef meat as food for human consumption and raw material in the food industry and the demand of the EU market, shows the need to intensify the production of this foodstuff. Aim of this paper was to analyze the effect of age of young Simmental bulls on dressing percentage in slaughterhouse, according to the standard applied in the EU (Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1249/2008; Commission European, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development). Regulations that define more precisely the quality of meat are only partially implemented in Serbia (Official Gazette of the SFRY 34/74, 26/75, 13/78). The accuracy of the slaughter processing of carcasses is assessed as adequate in the facility in which the analysis was conducted. The study was conducted on 116 young bulls carcasses, from redemption. Two groups of young bulls (cattle) were formed, first group the age of 269-350 days and second group the age of 351-450 days. The results show that due to the wider age intervals in the second group (351-450 days) the difference in mass of animals before slaughter and carcass weight after primary processing is statistically significant (P 0.05). The obtained results indicate that it is necessary to undertake concrete measures in the primary sector to achieve better yield and meat quality.

Keywords

• age
• young bulls
• dressing percentage