A comparison of blood loss during the Halal slaughter of lambs following Traditional Religious Slaughter without stunning, Electric Head-Only Stunning and Post-Cut Electric Head-Only Stunning

Blood lost at exsanguination during the Halal slaughter of lambs was compared between the slaughter methods
of Traditional Religious Slaughter without stunning (TRS), Electric Head-Only Stunning (EHOS) and Post-Cut
Electric Head-Only Stunning (PCEHOS). Two protocols were examined, Experimental (80 lambs) and Commercial
(360 lambs), assessing varying periods of animal orientation during the 4 min bleeding process (upright
orientation before vertical hanging). Live-weight, blood weight (Experimental only), carcass weights and
by-product weights were recorded. The Experimental protocol highlighted an increase in blood loss at 60 s in
EHOS and PCEHOS compared to TRS (P b 0.001) but by 90 s there was no significant difference. A postslaughter
change in animal orientation from an upright to a vertical hanging position aided the amount
of blood loss. The bleeding of lambs is largely completed by 2 min. There were no significant differences
(P N 0.05) in final blood loss between treatments. This research was undertaken to inform discussion on the
merits of different slaughter methods compatible with Halal requirements.