Journal of Animal Production Advances
Reality in Live Animal and Carcass Characteristics of
Indigenous Cattle Slaughtered in Six Abattoirs in Tanzania
Nsiima M. P. L., Shirima E. J. M., Mwilawa A. J. M., Shengoto R, Muro H. S., Masakia B. J. and
Bikuba S. L.
J Anim Pro Adv 2015, 5(3): 617-623
DOI: 10.5455/japa.20150221035412
Online version is available on: www.grjournals.com
ISSN: 2251-7677
SHIRIMA ET AL.
Original Article
Reality in Live Animal and Carcass Characteristics
of Indigenous Cattle Slaughtered in Six Abattoirs in
Tanzania
1
Nsiima M. P. L., 1Shirima E. J. M., 2Mwilawa A. J. M., 1Shengoto R, 1Muro H. S.,
1
Masakia B. J. and 1Bikuba S. L.
1
Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development, P.O. Box 9152, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
2
Tanzania Livestock Research Institute, Mabuki-Mwanza.
Abstract
The objective of this study was to look on some slaughter and carcass characteristics of cattle slaughtered
directly from extensive system in six abattoirs in regions where there is large number of livestock population.
The data belong to 1,244 cattle slaughtered in the slaughter houses for a period of 21 consecutive days of
January 2014. The information herein explore and validate the data given in different statistical sources. Since
the beef industry is currently constrained by low genetic potential of existing stock, inadequate infrastructure,
inadequate marketing system, prevalence of animal diseases, inadequate feed resources, weak livestock
farmer’s organizations and inadequate technical support services, this information will be used by policy
makers and scientists to improve the beef cattle productivity and beef products from the existing stock. The
survey results of the 1,244 sampled animals showed that most of the animals were slaughtered when aged
between four to six years and differed (P<0.05) in slaughter live weight, castrates being the heaviest
(256.2±6.69 kg), followed by entire as intermediate (244.4 ±6.41 kg) and lastly females (238.0±6.69 kg). The
highest (P<0.05) live weight at slaughter was seen in Ankole sub-breed (273.5±4.92 kg) while the lowest
slaughter weight in Gogo sub-breed (226.8±5.77 kg). It was noted that, all the sub-breeds had similar dressing
percentages ranging from 47.3 – 52.3%, but when graded, Tanzania Special had 51.8% while Tanzania three
had the lowest dressing weights of only 49%. It is concluded that, the indigenous animals are sold when they
are more than four years old and they have potential in producing both carcass and non-carcass components and
portray possibility of higher carcass values than the current documented data.
Keywords: Ankole, carcass weight, dressing percentage, slaughter weight, Zebu cattle.

Corresponding author: Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development, P.O. Box 9152, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Received on: 15 Jan 2015
Revised on: 25 Jan 2015
Accepted on: 21 Feb 2015
Online Published on: 30 Mar 2015
617
J. Anim. Pro. Adv., 2015, 5(3): 617-623
REALITY IN LIVE ANIMAL AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIGENOUS …
Introduction
In Tanzania, meat production from ruminants
including those from indigenous cattle are produced
from un-improved natural pastures in the extensive
system. Among the meat producing animals, cattle
are the most important as they produce most of the
red meat and contribute 53% of total meat
production. Indigenous cattle dominated by the
Tanzania Short horn Zebu (TSZ) and Ankole breeds
are the main source of beef in the country. About
80% of the indigenous animals are kept in the agropastoral system, while 14% are in the pastoral
system. The remaining 6% constituting beef breeds
and their crosses come from commercial ranches
and the dairy herd. Under pastoralism and agropastoralism the type of cattle kept are mainly
indigenous belonging to different strains namely
Maasai, Fipa, Iringa red and Ankole which are of
medium mature weight (300-400 kg) while
Sukuma, Gogo, and Tarime are of small size (250300kg). The TSZ which are kept for meat, milk,
manure, draft power and for traditional values are
grouped as low producers of red meat on per animal
basis despite their contribution of 94 % of all meat
produced in the country. Available data on
slaughtered TSZ animals and meat produced from
slaughter houses are largely unable to satisfy the
needs of stakeholders especially on the figures
regarding the sources, sub-breed type, age, gender
and weight of animals brought to livestock auction
markets and slaughter houses whilst they auctioned
on prices estimation. It is common phenomenon that
the eating behavior of meat is often relies on its
value, which includes the potential meat yield of the
carcass and eating quality of the meat (Simela et al.
2011). However, in Tanzania most of the sold meat
are unclassified and sometimes undergoes minimal
processing. This anomaly to beef industry is
constrained by low genetic potential of existing
stock, inadequate infrastructure, inadequate
marketing system, prevalence of animal diseases,
inadequate feed resources, weak livestock farmer’s
organizations and inadequate technical support
services.
The available key livestock indicators on
slaughter weight, carcass and non-carcass
components yields are considered unreliable by
618
many, being the latest livestock census on a
complete enumeration undertook in 1984. At the
same time, technical conversion factors under
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which are used
to produce key livestock statistics – such as cattle
weight, meat yield, milk production per cow and
egg production per hen that are used to estimate
levels of production – are obsolete and inadequate.
This prevents the generation of good quality
national statistics by the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), the Ministry of Livestock and
Fisheries Development (MLFD) and hence the
formulation of effective policies and programmes.
This study focuses on provision of technical data
regarding the slaughtered indigenous cattle at the
slaughter houses and therefore aimed at providing
technical guidance in the development of Meat
Industry, systematic planning, proper allocation and
effective use of the data.
Materials and Methods
Study Location
A survey on slaughter and carcass
characteristic of slaughtered indigenous cattle
(Ankole and Zebu) in six municipals/cities in
Tanzania was done for 21 days consecutively in the
month of January 2014. The data were collected
from Arusha Meat Company (Arusha), Nyakato
Abattoir (Mwanza), Mbeya Abattoir (Mbeya),
Morogoro
Municipal
Abattoir
(Morogoro),
Kariakoo Abattoir (Tabora) and Dodoma Modern
Abattoir (Dodoma).
Sampling Frame
Random sampling on cattle in slaughterhouses
was based on the number of animals brought for
slaughter for 21 consecutive days in January 2014.
The data on animal population characteristics in the
slaughterhouse was obtained such as sources by
region and district, owner, age, gender, breed and
means and distance of transportation to
slaughterhouse. The number of animals sampled
was almost 20% of all animals slaughtered in the
slaughterhouse at that particular day. In this case, a
total of 1,244 animals brought for slaughter were
sampled in all the six sites for the whole period of
study. Ante-mortem inspection was done 16 hours
J. Anim. Pro. Adv., 2015, 5(3): 617-623
SHIRIMA ET AL.
pre-slaughter and each sampled animal was
identified using a unique code which was painted on
the head and the hump. The live weight was
estimated using heart girth measurements by
calibrating tape measure to obtain slaughter body
weight (SBW).
Slaughter Procedures and Measurements
The animals were slaughtered following
standard procedures described by Colomer-Rocher
et al., (1987). The head was removed at the atlantooccipital joint and fore and hind feet removed at the
carpal-metacarpal and tarsal-metatarsal joints,
respectively (Garcia-Valverde et al., 2008). After
evisceration, the workers in the slaughterhouse who
remove the skin from the animal transferred the
code from the hump to the carcass by cutting it into
the thigh for easy of identification. An electronic
balance was used to weigh all carcass and noncarcass components. The carcass which included
kidneys and kidney and pelvic fat was weighed
within one h post mortem and recorded as hot
carcass weight (HCW). The carcasses were then
split into two halves through the median plane using
a handsaw. Non-carcass components (NCC) parts,
which included skin, head, hocks, full gastrointestinal tract (GIT), pluck (heart, liver, lungs and
trachea), internal fats (fats from thoracic and
intestines) were weighed and recorded. Full GIT
was weighed and emptied, washed off its content
and then re-weighed to obtain empty GIT weight.
Digestive content (GIT fill) was obtained by the
difference in weight between full GIT and empty
GIT weight. GIT fill was then subtracted from the
slaughter weight to determine empty body weight.
The dressing percentage was estimated from the
ratio of HCW and SBW times hundred.
Statistical Analysis
All the data were analyzed using the General
Linear Model procedure of SAS (2001). For all
analyses, when least square means were
significantly different at P<0.05, they were
separated by Least Significant Difference test (SAS,
2001).
Results and Discussion
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J. Anim. Pro. Adv., 2015, 5(3): 617-623
Table 1 shows that slaughtered castrates were
twice as much as entire and females, almost 48.6%
of the total slaughtered animals from all the six
slaughter houses surveyed. The castrates were more
available in the market as they are fetches higher
market value than the other classes of animals. This
is true when the many studies have shown that, in
comparison with entire males, castrates exhibit
higher
fatness
and
better
organoleptic
characteristics, particularly tenderness (Destefanis
et al., 2008) which also influence consumers
perception (Destefanis et al., 2003). Table 2 shows
castrates were heaviest (256.2 ±6.69kg) compared
to entire (244.4 ±6.41kg) and females
(238.0±6.69kg).
The hot carcass weights were heaviest in
castrates (129.4±3.89) than all the other classes
while they both did not differ in dressing
percentages. The observed slaughter and carcass
weights in castrates were almost closer to those
reported by Fadol and Babiker (2010) in Sudan
Baggara Zebu cattle (245.0±8.08kg) and carcass
weights (155.0±13.2kg) but above to those reported
by FAO (year) for indigenous beef cattle and far
below to those reported by Vieira et al., (2006) in
exotic breeds of Limousine (909 kg) and Brown
Swiss (941.1kg). Table 3 shows the sub-breed
differences in all the slaughter characteristics, the
heaviest groups (P<0.05) being Ankole, Iringa Red,
Singida White and Ufipa being the heaviest ranging
from 247-273kg live weight.
The higher slaughter weights is mostly affected
by breed size while they both not differed in their
dressing
weights.
The
mean
slaughter
characteristics within the animal grades differed
significantly (P<0.05) with Tanzania Special being
the heaviest for both live weight and carcass weight
parameters. In Table 4, the dressing weights in
Tanzania Special and Tanzania One were observed
to be 51-52%, because dressing percent generally
increases
with
increased
carcass
fatness
(Vasconcelos et al., 2008), and similar to those
groups under feedlot reported by Asimwe et al.,
(2014).
REALITY IN LIVE ANIMAL AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIGENOUS …
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J. Anim. Pro. Adv., 2015, 5(3): 617-623
SHIRIMA ET AL.
Table 1: Average number of animals slaughtered daily in six abattoirs for the month of January 2014 (n=1244).
Abattoir name
Region
Class of animals slaughtered
Entire
Castrate
Females
Arusha Meat Company, (AMC)
Arusha
38.5
76.7
12.3
Nyakato Abattoir
Mwanza
57.3
83.0
62.7
Mbeya Abattoir
Mbeya
8.29
43.9
13.8
Morogoro Municipal Abattoir
Morogoro
14.7
53.8
43.2
Kariakoo Abattoir
Tabora
14.8
25.5
13.7
Dodoma Modern Abattoir
Dodoma
29.5
42.4
36.6
Sub-total
163.1
325.3
182.3
Table 2: Mean (±SE) slaughter characteristics of different sexes slaughtered in six abattoirs (n=1244).
Sex
No. of animals
Girth size
Live weight
Hot carcass Dressing % GIT empty
slaughtered daily
(cm)
(kg)
wt (kg)
(kg)
Castrate
109.2±3.24
145.0±1.30a
256.2±6.69a
129.4±3.89a
50.4±0.86
20.1±0.95a
Entire
107.8±3.15
142.3±1.26b
244.4±6.41b
123.4±3.79ab
50.4±0.83
17.9±0.93b
c
c
b
Females
110.1±3.30
141.1±1.32
238.0±6.69
120.9±3.95
50.3±0.89
17.6±0.97b
P-value
P>0.3507
P<0.0001
P<0.0001
P<0.0004
P>0.9379
P<0.0001
abLeast
621
squares means with a common letter script in the same column are not significantly different (p>0.05).
J. Anim. Pro. Adv., 2015, 5(3): 617-623
Skin wt
(kg)
16.3±0.43a
16.6±0.42a
15.5±0.44b
P<0.0001
Overall total
127.6
201.3
66.2
111,7
54.2
108.3
669.3
Head wt
(kg)
13.9±0.32a
13.6±0.31a
13.0±0.32b
P<0.0001
Hocks wt
(kg)
7.03±0.16a
6.73±0.15b
6.63±0.16b
P<0.0001
REALITY IN LIVE ANIMAL AND CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIGENOUS …
Table 3: Mean (±SE) slaughter characteristics of different breeds slaughtered in six abattoirs (n=1244).
Breed
No. of animals
Girth size
Live weight
Hot carcass wt
Dressing
GIT empty
slaughtered daily
(cm)
(kg)
(kg)±
%
(kg)
Ankole
109.0±2.42
148.8±0.97a
273.5±4.92a
139.02.91a
50.6±0.64
20.8±0.71ab
Boran
109.8±7.11
138.7±2.84b
227.0±14.4bc
119.4±8.54bc
52.3±1.87
17.5±2.09b
b
c
c
Gogo
111.8±2.84
139.0±1.14
226.8±5.77
113.6±3.41
50.0±0.75
17.8±0.84b
Iringa Red
93.0±21.8
143.1±8.73a
252.4±44.3ab
120.7±26.2a
47.3±5.76
16.9±6.43c
b
b
c
Masai
111.5±1.83
140.1±0.73
235.43±.71
119.7±2.19
50.5±0.45
18.2±0.54b
b
b
b
Sukuma
111.4±2.27
143.1±0.91
246.8±4.61
126.0±2.72
50.9±0.60
18.2±0.67b
a
ab
ac
Singida
112.4±8.46
142.5±3.38
247.2±17.2
127.8±10.2
51.3±2.23
19.12±.49ab
White
Tarime
111.0±3.18
142.7±1.27b
244.5±6.45bc
122.2±3.82c
50.1±0.84
18.2±0.94b
Ufipa
111.24±.65
146.81±.86a
262.3±9.44ab
132.4±5.58ab
50.4±1.23
20.0±1.37a
P-value
P>0.9794
P<0.0001
P<0.0001
P<0.0001
P>0.9054
P<0.0272
Skin wt
(kg)
17.9±0.32a
15.8±0.94b
15.1±0.38b
16.±12.91ac
15.±20.24bc
15.7±0.30bc
16.3±1.13ab
Head wt
(kg)±
14.5±0.24a
12.7±0.70c
12.3±0.28c
16.3±2.15a
12.3±0.18c
13.0±0.22b
12.9±0.83b
Hocks wt
(kg)
7.10±0.12b
5.91±0.34d
6.09±0.14c
9.45±1.04a
6.12±0.09c
6.56±0.11c
6.73±0.41c
16.2±0.42b
17.1±0.62a
P<0.0001
13.4±0.31b
13.8±0.46b
P<0.0001
6.3±50.15c
6.84±0.22c
P<0.0001
Skin wt
(kg)
17.3±0.56a
17.1±0.47a
15.5±0.42b
14.7±0.42b
P<0.0001
Head wt
(kg)
14.6±0.41a
14.2±0.41a
13.0±0.31b
12.1±0.31b
P<0.0001
Hocks wt
(kg)
7.16±0.20a
7.1±70.17a
6.58±0.15b
6.28±0.15c
P<0.0001
ab
Least squares means with a common letter script in the same column are not significantly different (p>0.05).
Table 4: Mean (±SE) slaughter characteristics of different Grade category of slaughtered in six abattoirs (n=1244).
Grade category
Slaughtered
Girth size
Live weight
Hot carcass
Dressing
GIT empty
daily
(cm)
(kg)
wt (kg)
%
(kg)
Special
106.2±4.17b 151.5±1.67a
288.0±8.47a
149.4±5.01a
51.8±1.10a
19.6±1.23a
One
107.1±3.55b 145.4±1.42b
256.6±7.22b
130.2±4.27b
50.7±0.94a
19.9±1.05a
Two
113.2±3.12a 140.7±1.25c
237.2±6.34c
119.3±3.75c
50.0±0.82b
19.0±0.92a
ab
d
d
d
b
Three
109.6±3.15
133.6±1.26
203.1±6.40
99.2±3.78
49.0±0.83
15.7±0.93b
P-value
P<0.0159
P<0.0001
P<0.0001
P<0.0001
P<0.0137
P<0.0001
ab
Least squares means with a common letter script in the same column are not significantly different (p>0.05).
622
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SHIRIMA ET AL.
Conclusion
It is concluded that slaughtered indigenous
cattle have some potential for meat yield especially
those from larger sub-breed like Ankole, Iringa Red
and Singida White and more valuable when graded
under Tanzania Special and Tanzania One.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge the
Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development
and National Bureau of Statistics, both for financing
this study.
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