 As sheep producers, we are integral members of the American lamb supply chain that provides safe, high-quality, and flavorful eating experiences for consumers of all ages. This video is the first in a five-part series emphasizing lamb quality and is funded by the American Lamb Board and Premier One Supplies. The United States has a broad spectrum of breeds, management strategies, and marketing options for sheep producers. A primary driver of sheep operation profitability is the efficient gain of lean meat protein that is merchandised as lamb or for an aged animal as mutton. An analysis of an operation's commitment to American lamb quality can be achieved through benchmarking and the improvement of lamb carcass characteristics. Beginning with the end in mind is a theme for the ALB and Premier One lamb quality video series. Additionally, as a sheep producer, you hold a vested interest in creating a protein that consistently meets and exceeds consumer expectations of our American lamb product. Primary evaluations of lamb carcass characteristics include measurements of muscularity and trimness that provide an indication of cutability and retail yield. Upon slaughter, head, pelt, and internal organs are removed, yielding slightly more than 50% of live weight as the carcass weight. Working with your local butcher, you may have the opportunity to inspect and evaluate the result of your labor at a processing facility. Initial indications of lamb cutability are evaluated based on the shape and color of the carcass. Trim lambs will produce a more shapely carcass that has indentations between the leg and loin and rib and shoulder. As an animal reaches a more advanced degree of finish, the fat is deposited and creates a more rounded, boat-like shape. Also, animals with less fat covering will show a greater amount of bluing or exposed muscle. Overall, we strive for a light finish that is uniformly distributed over the carcass. Carcass shape can also provide indications of muscularity. The most prominent region to look at is the shape of the leg. A wider, thicker and more bulging leg is a carcass attribute that correlates with carcass conformation, a component of USDA quality grade, and utilized as a benchmark. Overall, carcass conformation provides us with an increased expectation of the lean meat lamb produced from an individual carcass. A process termed ribbing is not commonly conducted at large U.S. commercial processing plants but can be requested with cooperation from your local processing plant. In order to rib a lamb, count from the inside of the carcass with the point of your knife 1 through 12 ribs. You will use the point of your knife from inside the body cavity to identify the separation between the 12th and 13th thoracic vertebra. Wiggle the knife between the vertebral discs and gentle pressure can be used to separate between the 12th and 13th rib. You can poke until you find that soft spot. We line it up. The knife is pushed through the body cavity. And you can move to the dorsal or front side to insert your knife with pressure down on the rib and cut back. This exposes the rib eye at the 12th and 13th rib interface. We can now gather a greater amount of information to benchmark lamb cutability. A ruler can be used to measure 12th rib back fat from the edge of the rib eye muscle to the edge of the exterior fat. The location to measure is 50% between both edges of the longissimus dorsi muscle. And both left and right can be measured and averaged. This measurement is used to determine USDA yield grade that will be more comprehensively explained in a subsequent video. Body wall fat thickness is another indication of trimness recorded 5 inches from the midline of the carcass. Take a ruler and identify 5 inches and make a mark. Now measure across the whole face of the rib and fat to get a measurement that should be approximately 1 to 1 and a half inches. Rib eye area is now our greatest available indicator of muscling and expected retail meat yield. Using a specially designed grid, place it over the interface of the rib eye and count each dot. Each visual dot over the exposed lean face is .05 square inches. Thus, we add up the number of dots and divide by 20 for a total area in square inches. The 12th rib back fat thickness, body wall thickness, rib eye area and hot carcass weight are part of an equation for percent boneless closely trimmed retail cuts. This is the gold standard that producers can utilize to evaluate lamb carcass characteristics. Those that have access to a ribbed lamb carcass, such as direct sellers, can benchmark their expected lamb carcass cutability and work toward their own flock improvements. Utilizing carcass characteristics information provides sheep producers the opportunity to quantify the cutability of lambs produced on your operation. As an astute sheep producer, it is an exciting chance to make the connection of what sheep we produce and the American lamb that reaches the plates of consumers of all ages. A huge thank you to the American Lamb Board and Premier One Supplies.