Scans allowing sheep breeders to select lambs that could yield more and better-marbled loin chops.

October 4, 2019

2 Min Read
SRUC lamb CT.jpg
CT scanning allows farmers to select the best sheep for breeding.SRUC

Sheep farmers may soon be able to selectively breed for extra lamb chops based on data generated by conducting computer tomography (CT) scans of live lambs, according to an announcement from Scotland's Rural College (SRUC).

SRUC researchers have been using CT technology for more than two decades to look at the total fat and muscle in live animals in order to improve the lean meat yield, the announcement said.

These scans, together with growth and ultrasound images taken on farms, allow pedigree breeders to identify the best animals in a flock for breeding.

Following research analyzing spine length and the number of vertebrae across and within different breeds of sheep, scientists have found that for minimal extra expense, livestock producers could increase the size of high-priced loin cuts, alongside selection for other breeding goals such growth and total carcass fat and muscle, SRUC said.

These new measurements have been added to a national breeding program for specialist sheep breeds in the U.K., provided by Signet Breeding Services (part of the U.K.'s AHDB — the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board), the announcement said.

SRUC sheep geneticist Nicola Lambe, who manages the CT unit, said, “Selection for increased numbers of vertebrae or spine length in the thoracic and/or lumbar regions, would produce more, or thicker, ribs or chops. These are the most valuable in terms of cuts of meat from lambs and could have economic benefits for producers using elite rams, and the processors that they supply their lambs to.”

CT scans, which cause no harm to the animals or meat, are also being used to measure the amount of marbling or flecks of fat within the muscles — something that contributes to the juiciness and flavor of the meat, SRUC said.

SRUC said this second trait predicting the intramuscular fat percentage (IMF%) has also been added to the U.K. breeding program, together with another measurement looking at the eye muscle area — the area across the loin — which provides a reliable indicator of how much meat will be yielded in a sheep's carcass.

Now, researchers are using images taken from nearly 20,000 sheep scanned over the past 20 years to look at other traits, including studying the link between pelvic dimensions and lambing difficulties.

They have also started scanning the neck of Texel sheep as part of preliminary studies to investigate links between the shape of the larynx and laryngeal chondritis — a respiratory tract disease that affects this breed, SRUC noted.

“Information taken from the scans is fed into the national breeding program and adds accuracy to the breeding values, especially for the CT-scanned lambs, but also for all other related lambs in the program,” Lambe said.

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