IDENTIFYING CARCASE CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS BY DENTITION
(BASIC AND ALTERNATIVE)
AUS-MEAT has utilized the objective carcase measurements, in particular dentition, to form Basic and Alternative Category descriptors for
Bovine (Veal/Beef/Bull),
Ovine (Lamb/Mutton/Ram) and
Caprine (Goat). Dentition is the eruption of permanent incisor teeth as an animal gets older. Dentition ranges from zero up to a maximum of eight permanent incisor teeth.
Categories for all species are divided into BASIC CATEGORIES and ALTERNATIVE CATEGORIES, and all have a unique coded cipher.
BASIC CATEGORY
Animals assessed for Basic Category ranging from zero permanent incisor teeth and up to eight permanent incisor teeth (0-8) are grouped as the following species:
Alternative Categories are determined by grouping permanent incisor eruptions to indicate the progressive chronological age of animals. Alternative Category for the species
Bovine,
Ovine, and
Caprine are individually coded and identified by the application of a unique category cipher that describes the sex of the animal represented under that species description.