This study was conducted to determine the incidence and economic implication of foetal wastage in Makurdi abattoirs. The species observed to be slaughtered during the 3 months study (from November 2011 January 2012) were bovine, caprine and ovine. Total number of animals slaughtered were424 cattle (i. e. 177 males and 247 females), 754 goats (i. e. 119 males and 638 females) and 138 sheep (i. e. 21 males and 117 females). The incidence of foetal wastage in cattle, goats, and sheep was 2.43%, 44.09% and 23.08% respectively with most of the foetuses in their second and third trimesters. More female animals were slaughtered in all three species with 247 (58.25%) in cattle, 635 (84.22%) in goats and 117 (84.78%) in sheep. There was a significant difference (p0.05) in the sex of wasted foetuses. An estimated sum of N 600,000 equivalent to $ 3,530 was lost in cattle, N 2.8 million an equivalent of $16,471 was lost in goats and N 270,000 an equivalent of $1,588 was lost in sheep. A total sum of N 3.4 million equivalent to $20,000 was lost within the three months this study lasted. This is a huge economic loss to the livestock sector of the economy. Efforts should be made to reduce the occurrence of foetal wastage by effective ante-mortem meat inspection.
Key words: cattle, foetal wastage, economic implication, goat, sheep
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