treatment being killed on a given day. Lambs were
rendered unconscious by a nonpenetrating stunning
method. Immediately after stunning, four 1.27-cmdiameter
cores were removed from the longissimus
muscle (LM) perpendicular to the length of the LM
on the left side of the carcass. Two cores were removed
cranial to the 10th thoracic vertebra (designated as
foresaddle samples), and two cores were removed
caudal to the second lumbar vertebra (designated as
hindsaddle samples). Subsequently, LM samples were
removed at .75, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h after stunning. One
core was removed for pH determinations, and the
second core was frozen immediately in liquid NZ for
determinations of muscle glycogen and lactate concentrations
at a later date. The pH samples were
homogenized with sodium iodoacetate and analyzed
within 1 h. Carcasses were chilled conventionally at
2°C until fabricated into primal and retail cuts