Carcass composition in male fallow deer: age and castration effects on dissected tissue distribution

Abstract

Twenty-eight male fallow deer (Dama dama), 14 entire and 14 castrated (seven each 1-and 2-year-old) were slaughtered and their carcasses jointed. Each joint was separated into venison, trim A (low visible fat, diced pieces), trim B (pieces suitable only for mincing), waste and bone. Castration had a significant and cumulative effect on live and carcass weights. At 1 year of age castrated males were 80 g/kg lighter in live weight; at 2 years this difference had increased to 119 g/kg. The pattern for differences in hot and cold carcass weights was similar, being 66 and 148 g/kg lighter at 1 and 2 years old, respectively.Castration caused small but significant shifts in the proportions of the primal joints, and the proportions of venison, trim A and trim B. Castrated males had smaller neck (9 g/kg) and saddle (10 g/kg) joints, but 18 g/kg larger legs. In the whole carcass they contained 12 g/kg more venison, but correspondingly less trim A and trim B.Older animals had higher proportions of venison and lower proportions of bone. Venison distribution altered with age, but this was mainly a reflexion of changes in joint proportions.The overall effect of castration was to reduce carcass weights (on which producers are paid) and reduce venison production proportionately to 0-97 and 0-88 of that achieved in 1-and 2-year-old entire males respectively. In some market situations castration may be an acceptable method of producing venison outside of the normal peak production, but the reduced production would require higher schedule prices to be economically viable for the producer.

The Effect of Barley and Lysine Supplementation of Pasture-Based Diet on Growth, Carcass Composition and Physical Quality Attributes of Meat from Farmed Fallow Deer (Dama dama)

“…In the present study, good dressing-out proportion values were observed that were similar to those reported previously for FD [11,39,40,41] but lower than those observed by Wiklund et al [17]. In agreement with other studies comparing carcass traits in deer [11,12], the supplemented deer from Groups B and BL produced heavier carcasses and had higher dressing-out proportions.…”

A comparison of the quality of the Longissimus lumborum muscle from wild and farm-raised fallow deer (Dama dama L.)

“…The number of deer farms has been rising steadily in recent years in response to increased demand for venison which has become popular among consumers owing to its specific sensory properties and a high nutritional value resulting from a low content of fat and cholesterol, and a high content of protein and minerals (Zomborszky et al, 1996; A considerable amount of literature has been published on deer carcass characteristics and game meat quality as affected by many factors such as: the time and conditions of chilled storage (Vergara et al, 2003;Wiklund et al, 2006), management and nutrition of farmed deer (Volpelli et al, 2003;Wiklund et al, 2003b), pre-slaughter handling (Jago et al, 1997), the age of animals (Sookhareea et al, 2001;Volpelli et al, 2003), the rut (Stevenson et al, 1992), electrical stimulation (Wiklund et al, 2001), slaughter methods (Pollard et al, 2002), and castration (Hogg et al, 1990). The questions that need to be asked are whether wild and farmed venison differs in quality and whether the latter can be perceived as a different meat product.…”

Effect of zeranol or melengestrol acetate (MGA) on testicular and antler development and aggression in farmed fallow bucks

“…Castration is not a useful alternative with fallow deer. Without the increase in testosterone the animals have increased fat deposition and greatly reduced growth rates, which results in lower carcass weights and reduced muscle mass in the more highly valued cuts of meat (Hogg et al, 1990). Methods of controlling aggression have not been devel-oped for intact fallow bucks.…”