The Angora goat herd in the UK primarily produces mohair but must, as an enterprise, maximise the return from animals that are surplus to requirement. It has been suggested that the Uk producer should be aiming for fourty percent of financial output from meat and sixty percent from mohair (Thirwell 1988). Compared to cattle and sheep, knowledge of yield and quality of goat meat reared under UK conditions is limited. The role of nutrition and stage of maturity in determining levels and distribution of fat are poorly understood (Warmington and Kirton 1990).

The male castrate Angora goat was selected since this constitutes the major source of meat, being generally redundant after two years of age when fibre quality begins to decline. Animals were sequentialy slaughtered at the predetermined ages of six,12, 18 and 24 months to coincide with the commercial practice of shearing Angora goats at six monthly intervals. Fourty animals, typical of those kept for commercial mohair production in the Uk, were reared under a commercial or intensive rearing system. Twenty goats were fed on a grass based, commercial system, representing that fovouring quality fibre production. The remaining twenty were reared intensively on an ad lib. pelleted complete diet containing 8.9 MJ/kg dry matter and 11.4 percent crude protein. Five goats from each diet were slaughtered at the predetermined times. After slaughter the carcases were jointed and then dissected inio lean, fat and bone. The quantity and composition of the intramuscular fat in the longissimus dorsi was determined using the Food and Research Association (1987) method and by use of gas chromatography.