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A national network of young, passionate participants in the livestock
export sector sharing their stories, commitment and key facts about the
trade.
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- Australia livestock exports
- Live Export Care website
- Watch MLA's latest beef and lamb TV ads online
- Find great recipes on our consumer website at www.themainmeal.com.au
- MLA's nutrition program
- MLA's retail & foodservice program
- Watch the feedbackTV story 'Making moves in the Middle East' (FLV, 3.5MB, 3:56min)
LIVESTOCK EXPORTS – A KEY PLANK IN AUSTRALIA’S LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY
MAXIMISE MARKET OPTIONS FOR THE LIVESTOCK EXPORT TRADE
The livestock export industry continues to deliver improvements to ensure animals exported from Australia are well cared for at every stage of transport and in their destination market.
Improved operating procedures enabled industry to remain below regulatory (less than 1 per cent for cattle and less than 2 per cent for sheep/goats) and industry benchmarks (less than 0.2 per cent for cattle and 1 per cent for sheep) for onboard mortalities. During the year, 99.01 per cent of the 3.77 million sheep exported from Australia, 99.9 per cent of the 720,000 Australian cattle, and 99.29 per cent of the 27,546 goats exported by sea arrived at their destination fit and healthy. Animal welfare and in-market training on appropriate handling of Australian animals continued to be a focus for our livestock export program in 2007–08. We conducted animal handling workshops for local workers in nine countries at 17 feedlots, key port facilities and at key abattoirs. This was made possible through the Australian Government’s Keniry funding. We also produced education materials in local languages for use across these markets as part of our training program, with 1,000 copies each of the Animal handling training pack and the Feedlot handbook distributed to overseas feedlot and processing workers. Over 1,700 copies of the Is it fit to export guide were issued to Australian producers.
Industry’s effort to improve and demonstrate its commitment to the wellbeing of the livestock it exports has been key in the negotiations to re-open the live cattle trade to Egypt. We worked with the Australian and Egyptian governments and the Australian livestock export industry to resume the trade under a ‘closed system’. This arrangement means the new facility at the Egyptian port of Sokhna is the only one approved to receive Australian livestock and will be fully audited to ensure animals are properly cared for and managed under agreed government procedures at every stage in the supply chain.
Increasing community awareness of the livestock export trade’s commitment to animal welfare throughout the supply chain was also crucial to our program in 2007–08. We introduced a national network of young, passionate participants in the livestock export sector to the Australian community to share their stories, commitment and key facts about the trade. The ‘We care’ campaign reached nearly 10 million people in metropolitan Australia (McCann survey 2008), sharing industry’s key messages and contributing to an increase in community support for Australia’s livestock export industry.
Indonesia’s strengthened economy offers a real opportunity for both the Australian beef and live cattle trade. During the year we undertook consumer research in Indonesia to gauge attitudes toward beef – reasons for limiting consumption and how it is being cooked – to establish a platform to build demand for Australian product in this market.
