Area of origin, but not farm or sex, predicts horse carcass weight as a main effect

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences between cold carcass weights (CCW) for the Catalan Pyrenean horse (Cavall pirinenc català) breed according to different variables: area of origin, farm, gender and age. Linear regression models were applied using a generalized linear model (GLM) procedure for CCW of 397 animals (217 males and 180 females) slaughtered in a commercial abattoir. Fixed effects GLMs included age, gender, farm and area of origin, and their interactions. The best model for explaining CCW included area of origin only (ßorigin=0.02541, Wi=0.67, R2=0.0518) thus indicating that sex and farm were not important explanatory variables, as might have been expected. This information may be useful for obtaining better estimates of carcass weight of this breed for carcasses from specific breeding areas.