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Animal Evaluation

Live animal evaluation is an important tool with which all students in animal agriculture should be familiar. Livestock procedures and breeders evaluate livestock for the correct time to market their animals, and order buyers and packers evaluate livestock for correctness of condition and red meat yield. The ability to effectively identify animals that meet the needs of the marketplace is an everyday occurrence for many people in animal agriculture.

A livestock producer must possess the proper understanding of live animal and carcass evaluation in order to remain competitive in today's changing marketplace. Furthermore, the producer should develop an ability to correlate these factors with the conformation or shape of the live animal. Ultrasound has proven to be an important tool to aid in selection; however, visual appraisal has the advantage of being faster and less expensive. Most market animals are bought and sold on the basis of visual estimation.

Effectively identify differences in composition and practice your skills on animals and check actual carcass data: