As expected, lambs slaughtered at 5 months of age showed higher final body weight (+13.6 kg; P < 0.01) and warm carcass weight (+8.7 kg; P < 0.05) than younger animals; dressing percentage was higher in older lambs (51% vs 55.6%; P < 0.05), too (Table 1). All the differences in slaughter performances can be surely attributed to the older slaughter age. Daily weight gain was 378 g/d in younger lambs, 244 g/d in older lambs; the average daily weight determined in older lambs is very close to the results (250 g/d) reported for Barbaresca lambs slaughtered at 103 days of age (Lanza et al., 2003a). Cifuni et al. (2000) demonstrated that carcass yield decrease at a higher slaughter age in young lambs (45 vs 90 days, 14.5 and 20.2 kg final body weight, 64.1vs61.1%dressing, respectively). Incontrast, Solomon etal.(1980) reported higher dressing percentages and quality grades in older lambs, slaughtered at 32 and 41 kg final body weight. As slaughter weight increased, there was a concurrent significant increase in dressing percentage (P < 0.01), quality grade (P < 0.05) and yield grade. Cifuni et al. (2000) explained these results on the basis of the different weight at slaughter used in the two studies. Results of final body weight and carcass characteristics obtained in this experiment for lambs slaughtered at 5 months of age were similar to those determined by Lanza et al. (2003b) in Barbaresca lambs and by Priolo et al. (2004) in Ile de France lambs slaughtered at similar ages.