@conference {41448,
	title = {Maintaining product quality from the farm gate to the processing facility},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {63},
	year = {2003},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {237-242},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	address = {Queenstown},
	abstract = {There is substantial evidence that pre-slaughter events (mustering and holding in yards, transport, lairage and preslaughter handling) have negative effects on product quality through bruising, hide damage and muscle pH. To minimise these negative effects, use of deer-specific, good stock handling procedures and appropriately designed facilities are essential. The duration of pre-slaughter events and human presence should be minimised. Yard pens should be appropriately sized, dark, quiet, and deer should be kept in familiar groups. Adherence to existing guidelines for transport, careful driving, and avoiding transport during hot weather are desirable. Showering deer upon arrival at the processing plant plus provision of water in lairage pens probably prevents dehydration. Conversely, showering under some conditions may add to stress and bruising damage in lairage. Research proposed to improve pre-slaughter handling includes taming and selection for tractable deer, definition of appropriate handling techniques and improved facility designs. Further work is also required to identify optimal practices for lairage, showering, washing and feeding. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Pollard JC and Littlejohn RP and Scobie DR and Pearse AJT and Stevenson-Barry JM}
}
@conference {41105,
	title = {Factors affecting behaviour, bruising and pHu in a deer slaughter premises},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {59},
	year = {1999},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {148-151},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {Data from an on-going study at a deer slaughter premises were analysed. Over one year 3856 deer, primarily red x wapiti hybrids, from 101 farms were observed. During overnight lairage a mean of 14 (s.d. 7.6) antagonistic encounters/hr occurred. In the race immediately prior to stunning, rearing was the most common form of unsettled behaviour (17\% of deer). The incidence of unsettled behaviour differed between carriers (P<0.001). Bruising occurred in 24\% of carcasses, increased with load size (P<0.01) and poor weather conditions (P<0.05), and differed between carriers (P<0.05). Half (48\%) of all bruises were small and less than 5mm deep. Mean ultimate pH (pHu) was 5.65 (s.d. 0.139), and moderate-high pHu (>5.8) was prevalent in the shoulder (18.5\% of carcasses) followed by the loin (10.6\%) then the leg (5.6\%). Behaviour, bruising and pHu all differed significantly between farms and days (P<0.001). },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Pollard JC and Stevenson-Barry JM and Littlejohn RP}
}
@conference {41104,
	title = {Incidence of high pH in venison: Implications for quality},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {59},
	year = {1999},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {145-147},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {Muscle ultimate pH (pHu) is known to influence eating quality, functional properties and safety in beef, lamb and pork. The extent to which muscle pH affects tenderness and the extent to which it can be {\textquoteleft}aged{\textquoteleft} out is different for lamb compared to beef and two studies have been carried out with venison in order to determine the implications for venison tenderness. Longissimus thoracis et lumborum (striploin) muscles from nine carcasses which went prematurely into rigor ({\textquoteleft}stiff{\textquoteleft} carcasses) had higher mean pH than muscles from nine control carcasses (5.93 vs 5.61, SED = 0.091 at 2 days postmortem (PM); 5.83 vs 5.56, SED = 0.100 at 7 days PM; 5.81 vs 5.54, SED = 0.096 at 21 days PM). A typical quadratic relationship was observed between tenderness and pH which explained non-significant differences in tenderness between the stiff and control muscles. The tenderness-pH relationship for venison striploins assessed at 2 days after slaughter was typical of that reported for unaged beef and lamb in that muscles with pH in the range of 5.8-6.2 were tougher (P< 0.05) than normal (5.5-5.7) and high (>6.2) pH muscles. The tenderness profile change after 7 and 21 days chilled storage at 4{\textdegree}C was similar to that reported for lamb in that all of the striploin samples tenderised to an acceptable level. Ten intermediate pH (5.8-6.2) biceps femoris (BF) muscles were tougher (P< 0.05) than ten normal pH (5.5-5.7) muscles at all times with chilled storage at 0{\textdegree}C for up to 6 weeks. The intermediate pH muscles that were frozen then thawed prior to assessment were significantly more tender than the chilled intermediate pH muscles, but still tended to be tougher than the normal pH muscles. Both the chilled and frozen intermediate pH muscles were significantly more variable in tenderness than the normal pH BFs. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Stevenson-Barry JM and Carseldine WJ and Duncan SJ and Littlejohn RP}
}
@conference {41102,
	title = {The relationship of meat quality to age at slaughter and indicators of animal age in red deer stags and hinds},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {59},
	year = {1999},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {137-139},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {Groups of five stags and hinds were slaughtered in late summer (February/March) to examine the effects of age and sex of animal on meat quality. For both sexes the groups were the following ages: 1, 2, 3 and 5 years. In the 2 year old age group for stags there were three weight groups and additionally there was one group of 8 year old stags and one of 13 year old hinds. The group mean hot carcass weight (HCW) range was 51 to 119 kg for stags and 43 to 57 kg for hinds. The HCW{\textquoteleft}s tended to increase with age but the {\textquoteleft}light{\textquoteleft} and {\textquoteleft}medium{\textquoteleft} weight 2 year old males had lower (P< 0.05) mean HCW than all of the other male groups including the 1 year olds. The GR increase with age was much greater in stags than in hinds; 80\% of the stags 3 years and older and 27\% of the hinds 3 years and older graded over-fat. In both hinds and stags, GR was strongly related to carcass weight. Meat from 5 and 8 year old stags was much tougher (P< 0.05) than that from all other groups. Of all the attributes measured as possible indicators of animal age, only carcass neck a* value (redness) was able to accurately discriminate ages of animal and provided the best categorisation of animals into tenderness classes. },
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Stevenson-Barry JM and Drew KR and Duncan SJ and Littlejohn RP}
}
