Prevalence of foetal losses in cows slaughtered in sokoto modern abattoir, sokoto, nigeria

The study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of foetal losses in cows slaughtered in Sokoto Modern Abattoir, Sokoto state Nigeria. A total of 1406 cattle were slaughtered in 12 weeks of the study with an average of 117 slaughtered cattle per week. data was obtained using physical examination and recording cases as it occurred via the check list of males and female cattle, pregnant and non pregnant, sex of the foetus and age of the foetus. Descriptive statistics was used to analysed the data. It was revealed that 657 (46.72%) of the total number slaughter are male while 749(53.27%) were females. 24 (3.20% ) pregnant cows were slaughtered while 725 (96.80% ) were not pregnant. 91.70% of the recovered foetus after slaughter were single while 8.30% are twins. It was also revealed that 75% of the foetus are females while 25% were males. The result also revealed that 87.5% of the recovered foetus were in the second trimester while 12.5% were in the first trimester. It is established that pregnant animal are been slaughtered without regard to the pregnancy, stage of pregnancy and animal welfare. Cows to be slaughtered should be diagnosed for pregnancy and policy should be put in place to ensure proper inspection and disallowing slaughtering pregnant cows as well payment of compensation to pregnant animal owner whom cannot keep them until their due for slaughter .