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Foetal losses in small ruminants: a case study of Hadejia and Malam Madori, Jigawa State
Abstract
A study was conducted to assess the extent of foetal losses from small ruminants and factors responsible for slaughtering of inbred female animals in semi-arid abattoirs of Hadeja and Malam-Madori, Jigawa State. The study was carried out through the use of structured questionnaire administered to 160 respondents in the abattoirs for a period of three months (June-August, 2013). The results revealed that youths aged less than 25 (35.71%) and 36-45 (37.14%) years were the main source of labour in Hadejia and Malam-Madori, respectively.The respondents were mostly engaged in evisceration and skinning (75.71% and 82.86%) in the abattoirs. Majority (77.15% and 72.00%) of the respondents in both study areas were males, mostly (68.00% and 60.00%) married, few (12.00% and 9.33%) had tertiary education, while many (26.67% and 32.00%) had acquired secondary education. Small ruminant foetuses recovered from 6 to 10 per day were 65.71% and 52.85% which vary with season. It was concluded that there was a cause for concern on loss of foetuses especially among small ruminants. It was suggested that awareness should be created among livestock rearers/farmers and butchers on the implication of the slaughtering of pregnant animals and its consequence on the future of our small ruminant’s population since increase in population of any livestock species is based on reproduction. Thus, legislation prohibiting indiscriminate slaughter of pregnant or inbred female animals should be enforced or enacted as this has far reaching negative impact on reproduction/production and revenue generation in the subsector and thus enhance food security in the study areas.
Keywords: Ruminant, Foetus and livestock
