The relationships among slaughter age, final body weight, carcass weight, dressing percent, marbling, and income of crossbred Angus beef

Abstract

In 156 crossbred Angus beef cattle, final body weight (FBW) and carcass weight (CW) were highly correlated (r = 0.964, R² = 0.930, P < 0.001). Income (THB) showed significant positive correlations with slaughter age (r = 0.450, R² = 0.202, P < 0.001), FBW (r = 0.688, R² = 0.470, P < 0.001), CW (r = 0.751, R² = 0.564, P < 0.001), dressing percentage (DP) (r = 0.392, R² = 0.153, P < 0.001), and marbling score (r = 0.734, R² = 0.538, P < 0.001), with CW and marbling showing the strongest associations. Slaughter age was positively correlated with FBW (r = 0.503, R² = 0.253, P < 0.001) and CW (r = 0.486, R² = 0.236, P < 0.001), and weakly correlated with marbling (r = 0.160, R² = 0.025, P < 0.05). DP was positively correlated with CW (r = 0.338, R² = 0.114, P < 0.001), marbling (r = 0.280, R² = 0.078, P < 0.001), and income (r = 0.392, R² = 0.153, P < 0.001), but not with slaughter age or FBW. Network analysis confirmed CW, marbling, and FBW as central variables influencing income, highlighting their potential as key production indicators. These findings indicated that optimizing FBW, CW, and marbling could substantially enhance economic returns in crossbred Angus beef systems in Thailand.