Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Bovine fetal wastage in Southwestern Nigeria: a survey of some abattoirs

  • Published:
Tropical Animal Health and Production Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

As a result of inadequate veterinary services and indiscriminate slaughter of animals in most Nigerian abattoirs, pregnant animals are often slaughtered resulting in wastage of scarce protein made available to the people. To this end, an evaluation of the volume of pregnant cows slaughtered at some abattoirs in Southwestern Nigeria between 2005 and 2007 based on meat inspection records was carried out with a view to determining the level of fetal wastage in this part of the country. A total of 321,448 cows were slaughtered, out of which, 16,092 (5.01%) were pregnant. The fetal wastages across the four seasons of the study period were statistically significant (P < 0.05); the late dry season showing the highest percentage. There was a downward trend across the years, and this was considerably lower in 2007 than the other 2 years which were not statistically different from each other (X A2005 = 224.33; X A2006 = 216.38; X B2007 = 126.38). Our results indicated a considerable level of slaughtering of pregnant cows in the abattoirs studied. Hence, we advocate stepping up routine veterinary checks and interventions among trade animals in order to salvage the high level of fetal wastage in the region and the country at large.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

FAO:

Food and Agricultural Organization

References

  • Abdulkadir, U., Jiya, E.Z. and Kosu, S.A., 2008. Survey of fetal wastages: a case study of Markurdi abattoir in Benue State from 1997 to 2002. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 7(3), 450–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Black, R.E., Morris, S.S. and Bryce, J., 2003. “Where and why are 10 million children dying every year?”. Lancet, 361(9376), 2226–2234

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fagbuaro, O., Oso, J.A., Edward, J.B. and Ogunleye, R.F., 2006. Nutritional status of four species of giant land snails in Nigeria. Journal of Zhejiang University Science B, 7(9), 686–689

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Food and Agriculture Organization. 2006. State of World Food Insecurity 2006

  • Muhammad, I.R., Ashiru, R. and Abdullahi, A.Y., 2007. Implications of the slaughter of pregnant ewes and does to future stock in the semi arid urban abattoir. Journal of Animal Veterinary Advances, 6(6), 819–822

    Google Scholar 

  • Nwakpu, P.E. and Osakwe, I.I., 2007. Trends in volume and magnitude of fetal waste of slaughter animals (2000–2005) in Ebonyi State of Nigeria. Research Journal of Animal Science, 1(1), 30–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Oboh, H.A., Omofoma, C.O., Olumese, F.E. and Eiya, B., 2007. Effects of high carbohydrate low fat Nigerian-like diet on biochemical indices in rabbits, Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 6(4), 399–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oyekunle, M.A., Olubanjo, O.O. and Fasina, O.E., 1992. Fetal wastage in abattoirs and its implication; situation report from Ogun State, Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Animal Production, 19, 57–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Samuel, F.O., Cole, A.H. and Oldewage-Theron, W.H., 2008. Undernutrition and household environmental quality among urban and rural children in Nigeria. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 7(1), 44–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanusi, M., Abubakar, M. and Luka, B., 2006. Incidence of fetal wastage in ruminant animals slaughtered at Bauchi and Jos abattoirs. In: Muhammad, I.R., Muhammad, B.F., Bibi-Farouk, F., Shehu, (Eds.), Application of appropriate technology in overcoming environmental barriers in animal agriculture in Nigeria, Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of Nigerian Society of Animal Production, 102–106

  • Taiwo, B.B.A., Aluko, F.A. and Olufowobi, O.A., 2006. Reproductive wastage in some urban abattoirs in Ogun State. In: Muhammad, I.R., Muhammad, B.F., Bibi- Farouk, F., Shehu, (Eds.), Application of appropriate technology in overcoming environmental barriers in animal agriculture in Nigeria, Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of Nigerian Society of Animal Production, 140–142

Download references

Acknowledgement

We sincerely thank the staff of Lagos and Ogun State Veterinary Services for providing us the materials used for this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan, P.O. Box 21452, U.I. Post Office, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Simeon I. B. Cadmus & Hezekiah K. Adesokan

Authors
  1. Simeon I. B. Cadmus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hezekiah K. Adesokan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simeon I. B. Cadmus.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cadmus, S.I.B., Adesokan, H.K. Bovine fetal wastage in Southwestern Nigeria: a survey of some abattoirs. Trop Anim Health Prod 42, 617–621 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-009-9465-x

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-009-9465-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation