Incidence of foetal wastage in goats in Umuahia, Abia state Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the indiscriminate slaughter of pregnant goats and the incidence of foetal wastage at Ahiaeke goat slaughter slab in Umuahia, Abia State for a period of 7 months (March – September 2018). A total of 518 goats were slaughtered during the period of study comprising 311 (60.03 %) males and 207 (39.96 %) females. The study revealed that majority (76%) of the goats slaughtered within the study period were not inspected ante mortem while only 24% of the total goats were inspected prior to slaughter. In the course of the investigation, it was observed that out of the 207 does slaughtered, 130 (62.80%) does were pregnant while 77 (37.19%) were not. A total of 182 foetuses (109 males and 73 females) were recovered from the 130 pregnant does slaughtered. The highest number of slaughtered pregnant does was recorded during the traditional festive season, in August, resulting in high percentage (21.41%) of foetal wastage during the study. Averagely, a monthly slaughter of 30 (14.31 %) gravid does was obtained. The slightly high rate of foetal wastage recorded in this study may be due to the very low coverage of ante-mortem inspection. Given the findings from this study, it can be inferred that poor ante-mortem inspection, ignorance on the part of farmers, butchers, and policy makers on proper management of pregnant animals in markets/slaughter slabs may have contributed to the foetal wastage and the slaughter of pregnant does.