The Australian livestock export industry today released the national livestock exports mortality summary 2006 for sheep, cattle and goats exported by sea from Australia.
The report, commissioned by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and LiveCorp, reviews livestock mortalities for the calendar year and provides analysis of mortality trends in the livestock export industry.
LiveCorp CEO Cameron Hall said, “The Australian livestock export industry is committed to improving animal welfare and being transparent and accountable for all aspects of our operations.
“The improvements industry has made to operating procedures and the day-to-day care provided to animals during transport has enabled us to remain well below the regulatory benchmark set by the Australian Government of less than 1% mortality for cattle and less than 2% mortality for sheep and goats, and below the industry standard of 0.2% for cattle and 1% for sheep.
“We remain committed to further improving these results. Our research and development (R&D) team is focused on delivering a number of important projects to improve animal welfare including causes of mortalities in sheep, electrolyte replacement for sheep and minimising heat stress in cattle. There is also significant industry R&D being carried out in-market to further improve conditions.”
The overall mortality rate for sheep transported to all destinations in 2006 was 0.9% for the 4.15 million sheep exported. This is a decrease from 0.95% in 2005.
The overall mortality rate for cattle transported from Australia in 2006 was 0.18% of the 618,645 cattle exported. This represents a slight increase from 0.14% in 2005, attributed to one particular shipment in 2006. This shipment was investigated by AQIS and remedial measures have been implemented.
The overall mortality rate was 0.49% among the 25,353 goats exported from Australia in 2006, a decline from the 0.77% in 2005.
The reportable mortality incidents of 2006 have been investigated by AQIS, as per the regulatory process. Identified causes and actions to prevent recurrence are listed on the AQIS website.