Effects of crossbred ewe genotype and ram genotype on lamb meat quality from the lowland sheep flock

A study was carried out on five lowland farms in Northern Ireland over 2 years to investigate the effects of crossbred ewe and ram genotype on lamb meat quality. Four ewe genotypes were sourced from six hill farms – Bluefaced Leicester×Blackface (BLXB), Texel×Blackface (TXB), Suffolk×Cheviot (SXCH) and Texel×Cheviot (TXCH). On each farm groups of 20–30 of each crossbred ewe genotype were crossed with Suffolk or Texel sires. Within each of the ram breeds, high lean growth index rams sourced from UK sire reference schemes (SRS) were compared with rams sourced from flocks not involved in objective genetic improvement programmes (control). Throughout the 2 years of the study the ewes lambed at 1 and 2 years of age. Lambs from each of the crosses were slaughtered at 36, 44 and 52 kg live weight. Meat from lambs slaughtered at 36 kg had lower a* values (15.1) than meat from lambs slaughtered at 52 kg (17.0 S.E. 0.47) (P