STRUCTURE OF THE SKELETON

Skull

Sheep

• The brain is situated within the cranium - a box-like posterior part of the skull.
• The brain is connected to the spinal cord through a large hole, the foramen
magnum.
• The foramen magnum is flanked by two large knobs or occipital condyles that
form a joint with the first cervical vertebra of the neck.
• The skulls of meat animals are damaged in the frontal bone region if animals have
been stunned by concussion. Sinuses or spaces are present between the inner and
outer cranial walls.

Young pig
• There are considerable differences in the size and shape of the skull in different
breeds of farm mammals, particularly in pigs where a long narrow skull is a
feature that is often associated with a relatively large amount of fat in the carcass.
• The major muscles used in chewing are attached to the coronoid process which is
a large expansion of the lower jaw or mandible.
 Mature pig skull showing: C, condyle of
mandible; ca, canine teeth; F, frontal bone; i,
incisor teeth; M, mandible; mo, molar teeth;
MX, maxilla, N, nasal bone; O, occipital bone;
P, parietal bone; PM, premaxilla; pmo, premolar
teeth; PP, paramastoid process; and Z,
zygomatic arch.

• The coronoid process is located medially to the

zygomatic arch, between the eye and the ear.
The coronoid process allows muscle leverage to
be exerted onto the mandible. The joint between the skull and the lower jaw is
formed by a mandibular condyle. In cattle and sheep, the mandibular condyle is
relatively flat and allows considerable movement in a horizontal plane. Lateral
movement is important in animals whose teeth work with a grinding action.
• The jig-saw pattern of suture joints on the skull surface indicates that the whole
skull is formed by the fusion of a number of individual bones.
• A saw cut made transversely through the facial region of the skull reveals delicate
rolls of the turbinate bones in the nasal cavity. The turbinate bones support a
large area of nasal epithelium to warm and moisten the air travelling to the lungs,
and to provide a large area for the sense of smell.

Skeleton of the neck

Atlas (on left) and axis of

sheep.

• The vertebral column or backbone is the main axis of the skeleton and it protects
the spinal cord. The spinal cord is located in a neural canal formed by a long
series of neural arches, each contributed by a different vertebra.
• The neural arch of each vertebra is supported on the body or centrum of the
vertebra. In some types of vertebrae, the neural arch extends dorsally as a
prominent spine that may be called a dorsal spine, a neural spine or a spinous
process.
• Where movement between vertebrae is possible, the centra are separated by
cartilaginous intervertebral discs. In mammals, the anterior and posterior faces
of the centra are almost flat.
• The names and numbers of the different types of vertebrae in meat animals are
variable.

NAME--------REGION---------BEEF----------PORK------------LAMB

Cervical------Neck-------------7--------------7----------------7

Thoracic-----Ribcage-----------13------------13 to 17-----------13 to 14

Lumbar-------Loin-------------6-------------5 to 7------------6 to 7

Sacral ------Sirloin-------------5-------------4-----------------4

Caudal-------Tail------------18 to 20----------20 to 23----------16 to 18

• Meat animals, like most other living mammals, usually have seven cervical
vertebrae in the neck region. However, sheep sometimes have only six cervical
vertebrae, and as few as five cervical vertebrae have been reported in pigs.
 • In cattle and sheep, but to a lesser extent in pigs, the
neck is very mobile, and the cervical vertebrae have a
series of interlocking articular and tranverse
processes that limit excessive bending of the neck to
protect the spinal cord.
• The first cervical vertebra, the atlas, articulates with
the skull and is greatly modified in shape to form a
joint that enables the animal to nod its head up and
down.
• Rotation or twisting of the head occurs from the joint between the atlas and the
next cervical vertebra, the axis.
• The ligamentum nuchae is a very strong elastic ligament in the dorsal midline of
the neck, and it relieves the animal of the weight of its head. Were it not for the
ligamentum nuchae, the head of the standing animal would droop between its
forelimbs.

Plan of neck in beef, showing:1, ligamentum nuch; 2, atlas; and 3, axis. The

ligamentum nuchae is pale yellow

with a thick cord-like or funicular part and a flat sheet-like or lamellar part. Once
the head is removed at slaughter, the elasticity of the ligamentum nuchae causes
the neck of the carcass to curve dorsally.

• Beef and pork carcasses usually are split into right and left sides soon after
slaughter and the series of vertebral centra that are now exposed is called the
chine bone.

Ribcage
 Sheep

• The number of vertebrae in pork carcasses is rather variable, particularly in

certain breeds. The heritability of the number of vertebrae is about 0.74. Each
extra vertebra adds about 15 mm to the length of the carcasses at slaughter
weight.
• The number of thoracic vertebrae, each bearing left and right ribs, ranges from 13
to 17. Breeds with a large size when mature and with heavy bone development
tend to have more thoracic vertebrae than lighter breeds. Sometimes the ribs on
extra thoracic vertebrae are only partially formed, but usually they are complete.
• The minimum number of lumbar vertebrae is generally found in cacasses with the
maximum number of thoracic vertebrae. However, the variability of vertebral
numbers frequently leads to an increase in the total number of vertebrae, so that
the phenomenon is not due simply to the substitution of one type of vertebra for
another.
• Lamb carcasses usually have either 13 or 14 thoracic vertebrae and a
corresponding number of pairs of ribs. Experimental studies suggest that the
number of vertebrae in an animal is determined by the number of somites that
develop along the length of the spinal cord. By definition, in mammals, the
vertebrae that bear ribs are identified as thoracic vertebrae. In the embryo there
are ossification centers on each side of the developing vertebrae. In vertebrae that
do not normally develop ribs, these lateral ossification centers contribute their
bone tissue to the centra of adjacent vertebrae. In the thoracic vertebrae, however,
this laterally derived bone tissue remains separate from the centra and forms the
ribs. Thus, the numbers of pairs of ribs and the numbers of thoracic vertebrae are
determined by the developmental mechanism that controls the fate of the tissue
which is derived from the lateral ossification centers.
• The cage formed by thoracic vertebrae, ribs and sternum is an essential
component of the respiratory system. Thoracic vertebrae are distinguished by
their tall dorsal spines, many of which point towards the hindquarter and are
known as the feather bones.
 •The ribs are joined to the vertebral column
dorsally so that the head of each rib articulates
with the bodies of two adjacent vertebrae. Rib
showing : 1, head; 2, neck; 3, tubercle; and 4,
costal cartilage.Each rib has a tubercle that
articulates with the transverse process of the
more posterior of its two vertebrae. Ventrally, the
anterior ribs articulate with the sternum and are
termed sternal ribs. The more posterior ribs are
called asternal ribs and they only connect to the
sternum indirectly via costal cartilages. The most
posterior ribs have only small costal cartilages that
do not reach all the way to the sternum. Some of
the costal cartilages are very hard and may appear
more like bones than typical cartilage.
• The sternum is formed by a number of closely
joined bones, the sternebrae. When split through
the midline, the interior structure of the sternebrae
resembles that found in the centra of the vertebrae.
But in an isolated cut of meat, the distinction
between sternebrae and vertebral centra may be
made by the presence or absence of a neural canal.
A neural canal is seen in the vertebrae of carcasses
that have been symmetrically separated into right
and left sides.
• The structure of the ribcage is rather variable in lamb carcasses. Carcasses have
been found with as few as 12 ribs on one side, and left and right sides of the
ribcage may differ in their number of ribs. In lambs, rib length is determined
mainly by age while the plane of nutrition determines rib thickness.

-----------------------BEEF---------PORK------------LAMB

Total pairs of ribs-------------13----------13 to 17-----------13 to 14

Pairs of sternal ribs-------------8-----------7-----------------8

Pairs of asternal ribs------------5-----------7 to 8-------------5 to 6

Number of sternebrae-----------7-------------6--------------6 to 7

The skeleton of the loin, sirloin and rump

 Sheep pelvis

• In a live animal, the lumbar vertebrae act like a suspension bridge to support the
weight of the abdomen. The lumbar vertebrae have flat, wing-like transverse
processes that broaden the abdominal cavity dorsally to provide a strong
attachment for the muscles of the abdominal wall that carry the weight of the
viscera.
 Plan of kumbar region in
hanging beef carcass showing: 1, ilium; 2, sacrum;3, last lumbar vertebra;4, first
lumbar vertebra; and 5, last rib.

• The propulsive thrust generated by the hindlimb during locomotion is transmitted

to the sacral vertebrae by the pelvis. To strengthen the sacral vertebrae, they are
fused together to form the sacrum.
 Plan of the sacral region in a hanging beef
carcass showing:1, ischium; 2, femur;3, sacrum; and 4, ilium.

Fusion of the sacral vertebrae to form the sacrum is incomplete in young animals
and provides an important clue to animal age in the dressed carcass.

• The pelvis is formed by three bones on each side. The most anterior bone on each
side is the ilium. The shaft of the ilium expands anteriorly to form a flat wing
attached to the sacrum. This joint is called the slip joint. When seen in a sirloin
steak, the ilium may appear either as a small round bone or a large flat bone. The
anterior edges of the ilia form the hooks of the live animal. The most posterior
bone of the pelvis on each side is the ischium.
• The pelvis and the sacrum form a ring of bone completed ventrally by the pubes.
The left pubis is separated from the right pubis by fibrocartilage which, at
parturition, may soften to allow movement between the bones of the pelvis. The
pubes are separated when carcasses are split into left and right sides in the
abattoir.
 Plan of the pelvis in a
hanging beef carcass showing:1, lesser sciatic notch; 2, ischiatic spine; 3, greater
sciatic notch; 4, psoas tubercle; 5, obturator foramen; 6, symphysis pubis;7,
ischium; and 8, ilium.

• The pubic bone exposed on a carcass is called the aitch bone. The aitch bone is
curved in steer and bull carcasses, is moderately curved in heifers, but is straight
in cow carcasses.
 Another plan of the both sides of the pelvis in a hanging carcass showing: 1, tiber
coxae; 2, acetabulum; 3, acetabular ramus of ischium; 4, tuber ischii; 5,
symphysis pubis; 6, ilium; 7, pibis; and 8, ischium.

• Only two caudal or coccygeal tail vertebrae are left on a commercial beef carcass.
 The shape of the symphysis pubis seen on a side of beef is a
useful guide to the sex of the carcass: 1, steer; 2, heifer; and 3, cow, where x shows the
position of the pizzle eye.

Forelimb skeleton
Scapula
• The most proximal bone of the forelimb is the blade bone or scapula.

This is the shape of the blade bone

 in beef. The scapula is not fused to the vertebral column (like the pelvis in the
hindlimb), and this allows muscles that hold the scapula to the ribcage to
function as shock absorbers during locomotion.

The scapula has a distal socket joint for the next bone in the forelimb, the
humerus. This socket joint is called the glenoid cavity . The glenoid cavity is wide
and shallow, unlike the ball and socket joint in the hindlimb which is narrow and
deep. Along the dorsal edge of the scapula, the bone merges with flexible hyaline
cartilage. On the lateral face of the scapula is a prominent ridge of bone called the
spine of the scapula. In beef carcasses, the scapular spine is extended distally as a
prominent acromion process.

Humerus
• Proceeding distally down the forelimb, the bone that articulates with the scapula
is the humerus.

Proximally,
the humerus has a relatively flat knob or head to fit into the glenoid cavity of the
scapula. Two well defined condyles on the distal end of the humerus contribute to
the hinge joint at the elbow.

Radius & Ulna

 Beef shankbones
showing: 1, distal end of humerus; 2, olecranon fossa; 3, olecranon process;,
4,radius; 5, ulna; and 6, carpal bones.

The radius is joined to the ulna and is the shorter and more anterior bone of
the pair.

• Beef and lamb carcasses have a set of six compact carpal bones remaining on the
carcass after slaughter. Before slaughter, the forefeet of cattle and sheep have a
large cannon bone located distally to the carpal bones.
 A large plan of the pork foot compared to a
small plan of beef, showing:

AC, accessory carpal;

C, carpal;

IC, intermediate carpal;

MC, metacarpal;

P, phalanges;

RC, radial carpal;

and UC, ulnar carpal.

Beef cannon bones are removed with the

feet at slaughter since there is virtually no
meat on them. Cannon bones sometimes
are left on lamb carcasses in the abattoir to
prevent the meat contracting proximally up
the limb. Each forelimb cannon bone in
ruminants is derived by the enlargement
and fusion of the third and fourth
metacarpal bones.

• In the human hand, the metacarpal bones lie in the flat part of the hand, between
the wrist and the knuckles. If the human hand is placed flat on a desk and is
slowly lifted from the wrist, the thumb (digit 1) is the first digit to leave the desk,
followed by the index finger and the little finger (digits 2 and 5, respectively). The
third and fourth fingers remain on the desk. This demonstrates how the feet of
meat animals may have evolved from an original basic plan with five digits.
• In pigs, digits 3 and 4 on each foot bear most of the body weight and are larger
than the lightly loaded digits 2 and 5. The first digit is absent in pigs. The
evolutionary trend towards lifting of the foot and reduction of digits is even more
extensive in cattle and sheep.
• Cattle and sheep have cursorial limbs, long limbs adapted for running. Digits 2
and 5 are reduced to dew claws behind the fetlock. Weight-bearing digits 3 and 4
are enlarged, and their metacarpals are fused to form a long cannon bone.
• The small bones in the toes of both fore and hind feet are called phalanges.
• The feet remain on pork carcasses when they are shipped from the abattoir in
shipper's style (unsplit carcasses with head plus perirenal or leaf fat) or in packer's
style (split sides with leaf fat and head but not jowls removed). However, in a
 Wiltshire side for bacon production, the feet are removed, together with the head,
pelvis, vertebral column and psoas muscles.

Hindlimb skeleton
Femur
• The proximal bone of the hindlimb is the femur or round bone.

• exitThe articular head of the femur is deeply rounded and it bears a round
ligament that holds it into the acetabulum. Another distinctive feature of the
femur is the broad groove between the two trochlear ridges located distally. The
patella or knee cap slides in this groove. The tension generated by muscles above
the knee is transmitted over the knee or stifle joint by the patella to avoid having
an important tendon in a vulnerable position over the anterior edge of a joint.
• In beef and lamb carcasses there is a single major bone, the tibia or shank bone,
located distally to the femur. In the corresponding position in a pork carcass there
are two parallel bones, a large tibia and a more slender fibula.
 Tibia and fibula of the pork carcass drawn to the
same height and showing:

1, medial condyle,

2, lateral condyle;

3, tibia, and

4, fibula.

The presence of parallel bones suggests that, at

some point in an animal's evolutionary past,
rotation of the limb about its axis was possible.
For example, rotation of the human wrist
involves a partial crossing of the widely spaced
ulna and radius but limb rotation is reduced as
animals develop cursorial limbs. In cattle and
sheep, one of the parallel bones, the fibula, has lost its shaft. Only a remnant of
the head of the fibula may be found. In pigs, the fibula retains its shaft and the
bone is mobile at birth. After a few years, however, the fibula becomes fused to
the tibia.

• Distal to the tibia are the tarsal bones of the hock. The structure of the tarsals,
metatarsals and phalanges of the hindlimb is similar to that of the carpals,
metacarpals and phalanges in the forelimb. Pork carcasses normally are
suspended by a gambrel or hooked bar placed under the tendons of the hind feet.
Beef carcasses normally are suspended by a hook under the fibular tarsal bone.
This bone projects posteriorly and has a rough knob, the tuber calcis, for the
insertion of the Achilles tendon at the hock.

Poultry skeleton
• The skeletons of poultry are radically different from those of the farm mammals.
Not only is the avian skeleton adapted for flight, but birds and mammals are only
distantly related zoologically.
• The skull has very large eye orbits and a small cranial cavity.
• The long double curved neck contains 14 cervical vertebrae, and the ring-like
atlas articulates to the skull with only a single occipital condyle. The axis has a
large odontoid process that projects anteriorly.
• There are 7 thoracic vertebrae, but numbers 2 to 5 are fused. Thoracic vertebrae 6
can move freely, but the last thoracic vertebra is fused to the synsacrum. The
synsacrum is a fused length of the vertebral column that contains thoracic vertebra
7, 14 lumbo-sacral vertebrae, and the first coccygeal or caudal vertebra, but
 skeletal fusion in the vertebral column does not occur for many weeks after
hatching.
• There are six caudal vertebrae that, apart from the first, are free and mobile.
However, only numbers 2 to 5 are normal vertebrae, since the last one is formed
into a three sided pyramidal bone called the pygostyle.
• There are seven ribs: the first two are free while the last five are attached to the
sternum. There are no costal cartilages. Ribs 2 to 6 each have an uncinate
process which overlaps the next posterior rib.
• The sternum is extremely large. It has a conspicuous ventral ridge in the midline,

the CARINA, which increases the area

available for attachment of the flight muscles. The dorsal surface of the expanded
sternum is concave and forms the floor of a continuous thoracic and abdominal
cavity.
• The bones of the fore limb are greatly modified to form the wing.
 Plan of wing bones showing: 1,2 and 3, digits; 4, carpometacarpus; 5, radius; 6,
ulna; and 7, humerus. (The image at the top corresponds to the distal part of the
plan view)

Distal to the humerus are the widely spaced radius and ulna. The carpals,
metacarpals and digits are reduced to form a stiff skeletal unit for the anchorage
of the primary flight feathers. The three digits of the wing are equivalent to digits
2, 3, and 4 in other animals.

• The wing articulates with the body at the glenoid cavity which is strengthed by
the convergence of three bones, the scapula, the coracoid and the clavicle.

Plan view showing:

1, glenoid;

2, scapula;

3, coracoid,

4, clavicle; and
 7, carina of sternum.

In birds the coracoid is a separate bone, whereas in mammals it has been reduced
to a small integral part of the scapula. The clavicles of right and left sides are
fused ventrally to form the furcula or wishbone. Although many mammals have a
pair of clavicles, they are absent in cattle, sheep and pigs. The clavicle functions
as a strut to support the shoulder joint in animals which have complete mobility of
the shoulder joint. Since cattle, sheep and pigs have cursorial limbs with a
restricted fore and aft movement, they do not need clavicles. In poultry, the distal
end of the coracoid is braced against the sternum. In flight, the body of a bird
hangs from its wings at the shoulder joint, hence the more elaborate support for
the glenoid cavity.

• In poultry, the legs show many cursorial adaptations. Distal to the femur, the
fibula is reduced to leave the tibia as the major bone.

Plan of poultry leg showing:

1,2,3, and 4, digits,

5, tarsometatarsus;

6, tibiotarsus;

7, fibula; and

8, femur.

In the embryo this occurs as a result of the differential growth and translocation of
the distal part of the fibula to become part of the tibia. The proximal tarsal bones
are fused to the distal end of the tibia to increase its length, and the whole skeletal
unit may be called the tibiotarsus. The distal tarsal bones are incorporated into the
proximal end of a single bone, the tarsometatarsus, which also includes the fused
metatarsals 2, 3 and 4. Of the four digits which form the bird's claw, digit 1 is
directed posteriorly while digits 2, 3 and 4 are anterior.
This adpatation enables the bird to perch. The ilium is fused to the synsacrum.
Instead of being fused in the midline, the pubic bones are separate, and they
project backwards as thin rods.

Plan of poultr pelvis (anterior to the left) showing:

1, obturator foramen;

2, acetabulum;

3, sciatic foramen;

4, ilium;

5, ischium; and

6. pubis.

The open structure of the pelvis in the ventral region facilitates the passage of
eggs from the body cavity. The ilium, ischium and pubis all contribute to the
acetabulum, but the ilium forms more than half of the socket and the floor is
membranous.