Influence of slaughter weight on carcass value,
meat
quality and drying ability of ham
C. TEXIER D. DARIDAN Institut
Technique
du Porc, M. N. E.,149,
vue deBercy,
75<579 Paris Cedex 12Some female bacon
pigs
can be inseminated before the end of theirfattening period, notably
crossbred LW x L females among which 2out of 3 arrive at
puberty
at the ageof months.
Early
insemination of these animals at their ist or 2nd heat(about
95-lookg
liveweight)
led to obtention of various
types
of animals :prepuberal
femalesslaughtered
at 100kg,
females inseminated at 100
kg,
but withoutsubsequent
pregnancy and thusslaughtered
one month later at about 120
kg,
pregnant
sowsslaughtered (at
about 14okg)
afterweaning
of their litter.Comparison
of the results obtainedby
the first twotypes
of animalsslaughtered
at 100or120
kg
liveweight
was in favour of the heaviest sows : betterdressing percentage (8 3
versus8
0 p.
ioo), larger
difference betweenselling price
and mainexpenditures, piglet
+ feed(!
32versus + 11
r P’),
better meatquality (6. 1
versusg.6
forpH
and 23versus 27 p. 100forweight
lossof the ham
during processing.
These results are not very
surprising
since theheavy pigs
were older than thelight
ones,but the most
surprising
andparticularly encouraging
is that both thepig
feeder and the butcher may takeadvantage
of thistype
of animal :better economic results for the