Abattoir Practices: Description of food animals

Description of food animals

DESCRIPTION OF FOOD ANIMALS

Cattle

In India, cattle are reared mainly for milk production and draught purpose.
Slaughter of cow is banned by law in most of the states of India except in Kerala and West Bengal. Slaughter of bullocks does take place at most of the places. Carcass yield varies from 50 to 54% depending upon the condition of the animal.

Indian buffaloes are primarily reared for milk production and slaughtered after their productive period.
There is a good demand for buffalo meat among the Middle East countries and Malaysia.
Male buffalo calves with proper feeding and management offer vast potential for good quality and better-priced meat for export. A dressing percentage of 50% is obtained from well-maintained male buffalo calves of less than 3 months of age. The average dressing percentage of Indian buffaloes varies from 50 to 55%.

In arid, semi-arid and mountainous areas of our country which are not suitable for crop farming, sheep are primarily reared both for wool and meat.
Sometimes milk is also obtained from sheep.
Sheep and goat skins are fairly valuable and about 90% are recovered from slaughter.
Almost 5% of total meat is derived from this species by slaughter of 33% sheep population every year.
India stands third in sheep population in the world with vast genetic resource of as many as 40 breeds.
In general, an average Indian sheep weighs between 13 to 16 kg at 6 months of age except for Deccani and Magra (both are dual purpose breed for mutton and carpet wool), which weigh about 20 kg.
At 12 months of age the average weight varies from 18 to 22 kg except for Muzaffarnagri (dual purpose) and Magra , which weigh 25 and 28 kg, respectively.
The dressing percentage of sheep is about 45 to 48%, which may go up to 50% in a well-bred stock.

India ranks second largest in the world goat population.
Since 90 % of goat population is found in Asian countries it is referred as Asian Animal.
It is also regarded as the poor man’s cow and it has got the distinction of being the most important meat animal of India.
It forms the choicest of all meats fetching the maximum retail price in the Indian market.
The preslaughter weight of goats varies from 12 –to 20 kg depending on the size of the breeds.
Most of the Indian breeds are medium sized.
The dressing percentage also varies from 43 to 50%
Tellichery due to its compact body and short stature has a dressing yield of 48-50%.
Black Bengal and Barbari breeds produce good quality meat and skin.
Sirohi and Marwari breeds have a meaty conformation.

Pigs should be slaughtered at 6-7 months of age.
The dressing percentage varies from 65 to 70% in case of desi pigs and 70 to 75% in case of crossbred pigs.

Rabbit is gaining importance among the Indian consumers of the hilly tracks as an alternate source of meat.
Rabbits are highly prolific, grow rapidly and produce meat from cheap roughages.
The average live weight ranges from 1.2 to 1.5 kg at 8 weeks and nearly 2 kg at 12 weeks.
The carcass yield varies from 52 to 58% in different grades.
Rabbit carcass contains 82% lean meat, which is white in colour and soft in consistency.
It is comparatively low in sodium and rich in potassium and phosphorus.
The saturated fatty acids account for more than 60% of the total fatty acids whereas free cholesterol is also relatively low.

Indian poultry industry has made a phenomenal progress in the last few decades.
It has transformed into a sophisticated industry quite rapidly after the establishment of several franchise hatcheries in 1970s.
The broilers have a dressing percentage of 65-70%.
Broiler meat is a true delicacy while it is available at comparatively lower price than chevon or mutton.

This is another species of poultry, which is gaining importance and growing fast.
It gains a weight of about 125 Gms at 5 weeks of age. The dressing percentage is about 60.

Last modified: Thursday, 12 April 2012, 8:22 AM