Common edible meat livestock and poultry in China include pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, rabbits, etc. Below, slaughtering equipment manufacturers will briefly introduce the optimal slaughtering period for these types of livestock and poultry.
Pig: From the perspective of carcass quality, early maturing local pig breeds in China are most suitable for slaughter when their weight is around 75 kilograms. At this time, the meat quality is good and the slaughter rate is also high; A binary or ternary hybrid pig with local pigs as the maternal parent and imported lean meat pigs as the paternal parent is best slaughtered when weighing 90-100 kilograms. Beef cattle: It is better to slaughter beef cattle at the age of 1 and a half to 2 years old. Lamb: Lambs from that year grew fast and had good meat quality. According to the characteristics of physical changes such as summer fullness, autumn fat, winter lean, and spring fatigue, hybrid lambs have the highest body weight in September, with sheep weighing around 40 kilograms and goats weighing around 25 kilograms. The appropriate slaughter time should be at the end of September. Broilers: Adopting the all in and all out system for raising broilers, it is generally most suitable to sell them at 6-7 weeks of age and a weight of 1.9-2 kilograms. At this time, the feed return rate of broiler chickens is high and the meat quality is good. Meat duck: Meat ducks are most ideal for sale when they are 7 weeks old and weigh 2.5 kilograms. If sold or exported with divided meat, it is best to sell meat ducks at 8 weeks of age and when the pectoral muscles are full. The selection of slaughter age depends on the target audience for sale, but meat ducks must be slaughtered after 8 weeks of age. Meat rabbits: It is ideal to slaughter meat rabbits when they are raised to 3 months old and weigh 2-2.5 kilograms.