Effects of different slaughter methods on bleeding sheep

One hundred and sixteen sheep were slaughtered by five different methods in an attempt to determine the most practical technique which would result in rapid exsanguination without incision of the oesophagus. Techniques which involve stunning prior to slaughter were compared with the traditional New Zealand method by which fully conscious sheep are slaughtered by almost simultaneous severance of the major blood vessels of the neck and the spinal cord at the occipito-atlantal junction. Total amounts of blood lost and rates of bleeding were compared.