Abstract
The current cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2006 to December 2006 to assess the distribution and magnitude of major defects of sheep and goatskins collected and temporarily stored in four purposively selected skin and hide stores of Bahir Dar town, northwest Ethiopia. Thirty percent of raw sheep and goatskins collected by the traders was selected using simple random sampling method for examination of various kinds of skin defects, masses and sizes. Skins were graded according to the standard set by the Ethiopian Quality and Standard Authority. Defects caused by dirt and knife are found to be the most important defects of sheep and goatskins. The proportion of grade 1 skins in case of salted sheepskins was 29.68% while that of fresh sheepskins was 21.60% of the total samples. The proportion of grade 1 in case of fresh and salted goatskins was 23.2 and 29.63%, respectively, among the total goatskin examined. Recommendations were given so that slaughtering of sheep and goats should be done by professionals in order to reduce the defects created during flaying which are found to be among the major defects observed during examination of sheep and goatskins in the current study. In addition appropriate transportation, storage and marketing system should be in place so that the maximum benefit could be achieved from sheep and goat skins.
Highlights
Sheep and goats represent the most important segments of the Ethiopian livestock system
The supply of sheep skins was higher than that of goat skins and this might be attributed to the highest price of sheep skins
This may contribute to the lower grade of goat skins as most farmers keep goat skins carelessly
Summary
Sheep and goats represent the most important segments of the Ethiopian livestock system. In Ethiopian tanneries, 35% of sheep and 56% of goat skins have been downgraded and rejected due to pre and post slaughter defects. In general raw skins are downgraded and rejected as a result of various antemortem and post-mortem defects contributed by poor animal husbandry and nutrition, skin diseases and parasites, improper slaughter and flaying operations and improper practices of curing, collection, transportation and storage. In Ethiopia, raw skin grading can be done by considering the appearance, mass and size of the raw skins according to the Ethiopian Quality Standards Authority (ESQA, 2001a). The skins were sampled and graded by their appearance, size and mass based on the standard set by the Ethiopian Quality Standard Authority (ESQA, 2001a). The data obtained from the study was recorded for each treatment and quantification of skin defects was done as proportion of skins with defects to the total number of skins subjected to inspection
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