Use of Naturally Occurring Potassium-40 to Determine the Carcass Composition of Live Sheep

Abstract

Ten lambs were used to determine the usefulness of K⁴⁰ for predicting carcass composition from counts made on the live animals and their carcasses. It was found that washing the animals removed a significant amount of potassium contamination from the skin and wool of shorn lambs. The highest potassium concentrations were found in the separable lean tissue of the carcass with the bone and fat containing lesser amounts. No significant correlations were found between carcass composition and the gamma activity of the carcasses, partly because of the limited variability among the animals in comparison with the counting precision. Although significant correlations were found between the gamma activity of the live animals and their carcass composition, in general, these relationships did not appear high enough to be of practical importance. Copyright © . .