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Over 600kg, a welfare issue according to industry itself!

20/1/2016

4 Comments

 
[Fantastic…..now we are transporting cattle >600kg sourced from below 26 degree latitude to ports above 26 degree latitude, in January, with no bedding. YEP ASEL was never meant for this so its all legal….but lets look and see whether it is OK…..MLA publications and industry say NO.
 
So here we go, we leave the reader to judge whether it is OK when industry itself has so clearly has stated its not:
 
ASEL Appendix 4.3 Provision of bedding 4.3.1 Cattle and buffalo
(1) Cattle and buffalo exported on voyages of 10 days or more must be provided with sawdust, rice hulls or similar material to be used exclusively for bedding at a rate of at least 7 t or 25 m3 for every 1000 m2 of cattle pen space.
(2) This does not apply to cattle and buffalo loaded from Brisbane or a port north of latitude 26° south and exported to Southeast Asia or Japan.
 
BUT
MLA LIVE.124 Fit to Export Guide” 2006, “livemass; 200 – 500 kg if bred south of 26 degrees south and exported from May to October. 200 – 650 kg if bred elsewhere” [NOTE comment was removed in the 2007 version]
MLA LIVE.102 & SBMR.003: Best practice standards for the preparation & husbandry of cattle for transport from Australia” 3.1.4.(iv) “Animals over 500 kg live weight or with a fat cover of 20 mm at the P8 site should not be selected for export [Yep that's was Ross Ainsworth and AAV Mike McCarthy]
MLA W.LIV.0254 Management of Bedding during the Livestock Export Process: “It was commonly reported to the authors that heavy cattle (over 380 kg) will, depending on the surface of the pen floor and the stability of the ship, incur more leg injuries than other cattle.”
ASEL REVIEW AAV submission : “Overweight animals are at a higher risk of this type of injury [hoof deck syndrome]and subsequent death than animals below 500kg."

Anyhow, guess all that matter is that ASEL approves   heavy cattle to travel in unstable hard-floored multi-story carparks - we must have the best animal welfare standards in the world....!!!

4 Comments
Nancy Wilson
20/1/2016 10:38:14 pm

Pray for hearts to wake up to the responsibility God has given to them for the care of the crearures that belong to Him.

Reply
Australian Livestock Exporters' Council link
25/1/2016 12:06:34 pm

Please note Beef Central has clarified the story which prompted this blog entry, apologising for any ambiguity re weights of cattle purchased:

"Editor’s note: This comment has been modified since the original version of this article appeared. Attention has been drawn to the fact that the article suggested that grainfed cattle from the feedlot up to 620kg in liveweight were included in the live export consignment. Beef Central now accepts that the feedlot operator was referring to 100-day cattle in general in the feedlot at that weight – not necessarily those sold to the live export buyer. Apologies for any confusion."

Updated article: http://www.beefcentral.com/markets/live-exporters-sourcing-heavy-cattle-out-of-southern-feedlots/

Reply
Michael Cole link
26/1/2016 07:34:53 pm

Do I understand correctly that the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) is weak, avoids conflict with industry and does little to prevent animal cruelty? Is it not possible for vets to band together to change the leadership of the AVA?
--Michael Cole, retired paediatrician, Macquarie Uni law student.

Reply
VALE
9/2/2016 09:31:53 am

Hi Michael. I think that is probably a somewhat unfair criticism of AVA. AVA itself does not in itself have the ability to order change in an industry or prevent cruelty. The AVA also has to work with all veterinarians in industry and often has a wide variety of divergent opinions. Somewhere in that, they have to represent both their members and the animals in their care. So, to be honest, it is not an easy task.
Saying that, VALE has always been disappointed that the AVA sits on the fence over the issue of live export after stating clearly in their Position Statement that there must be independent veterinarians on every ship in this trade......ie one would argue that as this is not and never has been the case, despite multiple submissions from the AVA on the matter, AVA cannot by definition support the LE trade. Presumably that is why they routinely comment that they do not support or oppose the trade.
One hopes that under the current leadership, there will be some very positive steps taken by the AVA on this and other welfare issues. The submission over the Ag-Gag Laws from the AVA showed a strong commitment to animal welfare and was not a "weak" document so there are signs of real and effective change at many levels.

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