Effect of Sex on Selected Species of Animals Mostly Consumed by Borno State People in Nigeria

The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of sex on selected species of animals mostly consumed by Borno State people that are predominantly Muslim. In other words, the study was to assess how sex determine slaughtering rate of animals in Borno State with emphasis on four major species (cattle, sheep, goats and camels). The study was conducted for a period of ten (10) years (1982-1991). Abattoir records in the state were obtained from the State Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Reserve. A total of 373,417 cattle were slaughtered within the period under review, with 194,923 males, representing 52.20% and 178,494 females, representing 47.80%. Also, 608,199 goats were slaughtered, with 295,665 males, representing 48.61% and 312,534 females, representing 51.39%. For sheep, 221,047 were slaughtered, with 115,952 males, representing 52.46% and 105,095 females, representing 47.54%. The number of camels slaughtered were 84954 with 46,810 males, representing 55.10% and 38,144 females, representing 44.90%. From the study, it was concluded that more male animals were slaughtered than females in all the species except in goats where the females were slightly higher than the males with adduced reasons for the exception. Goats had the highest numbers of slaughtered rate 608,199, followed by cattle 373,417, sheep 221,047 and camels 84,954 respectively. T-test was used to for data analysis to determine the significant difference between the male and female animals for each species and it was found that significant difference was found only in cattle between slaughtered males and females. It was concluded that more male animals were slaughtered than the females as most females are retained for reproduction and the ratio of males to females is always very low in every breeding herd or farm.