Twenty-seven Saanen male kids averaging 20 kg of body weight (BW) at the beginning of the trial were used to study the effects of feed restriction on carcass characteristics. Animals were assigned to one of the following three treatments: control (fed ad libitum), 30 or 60% of feed restriction. A completely randomized design was used and data were submitted to regression analysis; animals were slaughtered when they reached 35 kg of BW. The following traits were measured in this trial: carcass commercial and biological yields, commercial cuts, tissue composition of hind leg, rib eye area (REA), and carcass compactness. Increasing feed restriction reduced carcass and commercial cut weights as well as loin and fat proportions in the carcass. Conversely, proportions of bone, neck, and shoulder clod all increased when the feed restriction went from 0 to 60%. Muscle tissue proportion was not changed by feed restriction in this study. It can be concluded that 30% of feed restriction did not negatively affected carcass quality of Saanen dairy kids.
castrated kids; commercial yield; fat; muscle; tissue composition
