Journal of Applied Biosciences (J. Appl. Biosci.) [ISSN 1997 - 5902]
Volume 42: 2876 - 2881. Published June 14, 2011.
Incidence of foetal wastages of cows slaughtered in Minna abattoir, Niger state, Nigeria.
Adama J.Y, Shiawoya E.L and Michael N.
Department of Animal Production, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B 65 Minna, Niger State, Nigeria.
Corresponding Author email: adama_live@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Objective: This study was carried out to observe the incidence of foetal wastages of cows slaughtered in Minna abattoir, Niger State, Nigeria.
Methodology and Results: Data was collected for a period of 3 months (June- August, 2010). The parameters observed included; total number of slaughtered cattle, breed of animals sampled, and number of pregnant cows slaughtered, the number of fetuses encountered, the sex and weight of fetuses encountered. The result showed that more female cattle were slaughtered compared to male cattle representing 62% and 38% for females and males respectively. However, more male fetuses were wasted than the female fetuses representing 56.7% and 43.3% for males and females respectively. There was a significant (p<0.05) difference in the mean weight of male and female fetuses in the months of June and July respectively. However, there was no significant (P>0.05) difference in the mean weight of both sexes in the month of August.
Conclusion and application: It is recommended that livestock farmers be sensitized on how to detect pregnant cows especially at the early stages of pregnancy and that appropriate legislation be put in place by the State Government in order to allow for mounting of effective surveillance in the slaughter houses by inspection personnel to minimize these losses.
Keywords: Incidence, foetal wastages, slaughtered cattle, Nigeria
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