Animals and carcass traits
In this work the post mortem preliminary results on 30 ewes deriving from the Tuscan traditional market and 20 ewes deriving from the Tuscan Halal ovine market were reported; all animals were reared in semi-extensive conditions and were at the end of career. The ewes of this trial, were slaughtered at the Lanini slaughterhouse, in Arezzo province (Castel San Niccolò), following the Council Regulation of 24 September 2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing – animal welfare guidelines, which provide the head-only electrical as stunning method [3]. The recommended parameter for sheep and goats are: minimum level of 1 A of power [5]. The head-only electrical stunning duration was 5 s, ensuring the animal pain sensation lose before the slaughtering [5]. The slaughtered animals were chosen considering the features of the ewes usually intended for the traditional and the Halal markets. The owner of the slaughterhouse chosen the ewes intended for the traditional market, while the Islamic slaughterer chosen the ewes intended for the Halal market. The chosen ewes for the traditional market ranged in age from 3 to 7 years, and belonged to the following local sheep breeds and crosses: Appenninica x Sarda (9), Sarda (14), Comisana (7). The chosen ewes for the Halal market were over 7 years old, and belonged to the following local sheep breeds and crosses: Sarda (12), Appenninica x Sarda (8). The Appenninica sheep is a medium-large meat purpose breed, Sarda sheep is a small dairy breed, and Comisana sheep is a medium-large dairy breed. The 53 % of the total slaughtered ewes for the traditional market were medium-heavy, while only 35 % of the total slaughtered ewes for the Halal market ewes had this size.
In all ewes, the live weight was taken. After the slaughtering, the internal organs (heart, trachea, lungs, spleen, liver, rumen, reticulum, omasum, abomasum, large and small intestines) weight and the slaughtering discarded (head, skin, legs) weight were taken. On the carcasses the weight, and the zoometric measurements [6] were taken. The dressing percentage was calculated. The carcasses were evaluated for conformation and fat score following EU grid rules (15 points scale) [6].