in utero and growth prior to weaning was for the eye
muscle (m. longissimus) cross-sectional area when compared
at an equivalent carcass weight at 30 months of age
(Greenwood et al., 2006). Cattle of low birth weight had a
greater eye muscle area at slaughter than high-birth-weight
cattle within the high pre-weaning growth group (91.1 v.
87.2 cm2
), suggesting, perhaps, in conjunction with the
results for subcutaneous fat depth, some long-term consequences
of divergent foetal growth for distribution of
carcass tissues. However, the eye muscle area did not differ
due to birth weight within the animals that grew slowly
to weaning (89.8 v. 90.5 cm2
, respectively). Similarly,
interactions between prenatal and pre-weaning nutrition for