Performance at slaughtering of Marchigiana beef cattle

On a 766 heads sample of Marchigiana bullocks slaughtered in 2004-2006 at Senigallia’s Slaughterhouse main performance at slaughtering were recorded: identity, personal data, live weight, right hoof, right fore and hind limbs, head, tongue, skin, head skin, gross stomachs, empty rumen, gross intestines, stomach fat, thickness of skin, carcass and half weights, limb girth, SEUROP carcass and fatness scoring (using 3 subclasses). Avarage daily gain (ADG) and percentages were computed. All statistics were performed on 726 males: means, correlations, multivariate analysis, variance components, heritability. Average slaughtering data were: age 598.8 ± 78.6 d, live weight 681.6 ± 81.1 kg, live ADG 1.154 ± 0.175 kg/d, carcass weight 424.9 ± 54.9 kg, gross dressing 62.29 ± 2.08%, net dressing 68.89 ± 1,89%, carcass ADG 0.719 ± 0.116 kg/d. Phenotypic correlations of live weight with SEUROP carcass evaluation and fatness have been equal to 47% and 26% while the correlations between ADG, SEUROP and fatness carcass evaluation have been equal to 41% and 37%. Following heritabilities were estimated: carcass weight 0.29, skin 0.62, head 0.34, SEUROP carcass evaluation 0.48.