SMITHFIELD, N.C. (AP)--One local hog farmer is gearing up for a growing market: raising lambs and goats to be slaughtered according to Muslim tradition.

Johnston County commissioners recently approved the rezoning request Kenneth Rowe needed to build a slaughterhouse on his Princeton hog farm to slaughter animals according to guidelines known to Muslims as hilal.

In a hilal slaughter, an animal's throat is slit using a sharp knife and cutting both carotid arteries. The death is quick and accompanied by a prayer.

Kenneth Rowe and his son, Eddie, were cited by the state Department of Agriculture in January. For five years, the Lowes had been selling animals to Muslims, who would kill the animals at the farm.

The department stopped short of halting the practice for the holiday of Eid al-Adha after negotiating with the Rowes and Muslim leaders, but agriculture officials still wanted the inspections.

The Rowes decided to build a $200,000 slaughterhouse where they will butcher meat according to hilal standards, including hiring a Muslim to say a prayer for the animals. Muslims will be allowed to perform the killing themselves.

Eddie Rowe said he had been killing 20 to 30 of the animals a week, and more than 100 on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, a holiday on which adherents traditionally sacrifice a lamb in honor of Abraham's sacrifice of his son.

Each animal, he said, could bring in a profit of $20 to $40. When he starts selling the meat wholesale, he'll be killing 40 to 60 a week and sending the meat to Muslim specialty stores.

Date: 5/26/05

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