Body Composition of Cattle. II. Determination of Fat and Water Content From Measurement of Body Specific Gravity

Abstract

A method is described for measurement of specific gravity of eviscerated cattle by hydrostatic weighing. With this technic fat and water contents of cattle can be calculated from body specific gravity with considerable accuracy. On 30 head of cattle (15 steers and 15 heifers) the specific gravity ranged from 1.017 to 1.070 (avg. 1.045) and the fat ranged from 13.6% to 39.5% (avg. 25.1%). The index of correlation between body specific gravity and fat content was 0.956 and that for specific gravity and water content was 0.984. The correlation between carcass and whole animal specific gravity was high (r=+0.989) as was the correlation of 9-10-11 rib cut specific gravity with carcass (r=+0.950) and whole animal (r=+0.954) specific gravity. The mean water content of lean body mass of cattle was detd. as 72.6%. The following theoretical equations were derived showing relationship between body fat, body water, and body specific gravity of eviscerated cattle [image].