Table 5. Carcass characteristics of crossbred lambs consuming either a forage or grain based diet while in confinement or on wheat stubble fields in yr 11)

Item Treatment2,3) SEM p-value
Confinement4) Field5) Model Location6) Feed7) Location × Feed
CALF CBAR FALF FBAR
Carcass weight (kg) 25.1 24.2 25.9 26.6 1.13 0.46 0.16 0.90 0.44
Dressing percent 49.18b 46.45b 51.92ab 52.85a 1.54 0.02 0.01 0.54 0.22
Back fat thickness (cm) 0.34 0.38 0.43 0.28 0.07 0.56 0.94 0.49 0.21
Ribeye area (cm2) 5.30b 5.33b 6.03a 6.32a 0.21 < 0.01 < 0.01 0.45 0.55
Leg score8) 406 413 434 422 8.56 0.13 0.04 0.72 0.28
Conformation8) 413 419 434 413 8.08 0.20 0.34 0.34 0.09
Flank streaking9) 294 237 256 259 23.99 0.39 0.73 0.25 0.21
Quality grade8) 425 407 406 409 15.08 0.77 0.57 0.61 0.47
WBSF (kg) 3.8a 2.7b 3.8a 3.1b 0.30 0.03 0.56 < 0.01 0.53
Start date for all treatments was September 26th; End date for field and confinement treatments was November 25th.
Pen is the experimental unit, 3 sheep per replicate confinement, 6 sheep per replicate field; six replicates per treatment.
Diets were provided to allow for ad libitum intake.
CALF: pellet containing 71% alfalfa, 18% barley, 5% molasses, and 6% vitamin/mineral package; CBAR: pellet containing 60% barley, 26% alfalfa, 4% molasses, 2.5% soybean-hi pro, and 7.5% vitamin/mineral package.
FALF: field fed pellet containing 71% alfalfa, 18% barley, 5% molasses, and 6% vitamin/mineral package; FBAR: field fed pellet containing 60% barley, 26% alfalfa, 4% molasses, 2.5% soybean-hi pro, and 7.5% vitamin/mineral package.
Location, confinement or field finish.
Feed, alfalfa or barley pellets.
325, Good minus; 350, Good; 375, Good plus; 425, Choice minus; 450, Choice; 475, Choice plus; 525, Prime minus; 550, Prime; 575, Prime plus.
100 to 199, Practically Devoid; 200 to 299, Traces; 300 to 399, Slight; 400 to 499, Small.
Least Square Means within a row with different superscripts differ (p < 0.10).
WBSF, Warner-Bratzler shear force.