Here's the reference and the paragraph on the astragalus:
Noddle, Barbara A. 1973
Determination of the body weight of cattle from bone measurements.
In Domestikationsforschung und Geschichte der Haustiere: Internationales
Symposion in Budapest, 1971. J. Matolcsi, ed. pp. 377-389. Budapest:
Akadémiai Kiadó.
“a multiple of the medial and lateral length of the astragalus and the
distal width (M). The relationship with the carcass weight and this last is
not direct, but varies with measured multiple; the actual graph shows M
plotted against M divided by the weight; this relationship was suggested by
the work of Palsson and Verges (1952) who showed that there was an indirect
relationship between the weight of this bone and the body weight of the
sheep.”
Palsson H. and J.B. Verges 1952
Effects of the plane of nutrition and the development of carcass
quality in lambs. Journal of Agricultural Science 42, pp. 1-149
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