Hot boning involves the removal of muscles from the carcass prior to the completion of rigor mortis (Devine et al., 2002). Although the application of hot boning of sheep carcasses is not extensive (Waylan & Kastner, 2004), there are many clear economic advantages for using this methodology, including increased meat yield, energy savings, chiller space minimization, reduced labor and time (McPhail, 1995). Additionally, the increased cooling rate of hot boned muscles can lead to an improvement in meat water-holding capacity and color, due to the minimization of the harmful effects produced by the combination of high muscle temperature and low muscle pH (Sammel et al., 2002). However, rapid cooling of hot boned muscles may also lead to less tender meat due to an increase in muscle sarcomere shortening (Devine et al., 2002).