G’day, I’m Ian Frost, but everyone who knows me calls me Frosty.

As you can see from my picture, I’ve been around for almost half a century. That’s Dozer with me. He’d like to tell you a thing or two about how dedicated we are to animals here in Australia but he has his work cut out puppy sitting so the job has come to me.

I’m looking forward to dropping you a line to let you know from the horse’s mouth (so to speak) how we actually care for animals here in Australia and throughout the livestock export industry.

So who am I? Well, I was brought up on a farm near Hopetoun, Victoria. For almost all of my life I have been around animals. (For a couple of years I played football in Melbourne but we will not include that.)

I suppose animals have been my life, and I know that when you look after animals, most of the time they will look after you.

I have worked for KLTT (Kuwait Livestock Transport & Trading) for 24 years now and I suppose I have done just about everything there is to do in the industry handling livestock.

Right now I work in quality control, which is a fancy way of saying I make sure everything is up to scratch with the sheep, in feedlots and on board the ships.

This has to happen before any ship sets sail. When I was a stockman I used to travel with the animals but I’m happy to keep my feet on dry land these days and leave the onboard travel to the vets and other stockmen.

One thing that annoys me about some people is that many think they know animals when they actually don’t. It’s not as simple as cats and dogs. To really care for animals you need to know about animals. Different breeds have different requirements and we make it our business to know all about the animals we care for. Some people don’t even seem to know which end of the animal eats the grass, let alone how the industry treats them.

That’s why I think this website is a great idea as it gives the real story on how livestock exports work.

I was busy with a ship last week and another this week and I’m looking forward to some time off when I head over to my sons wedding in Queensland next year. But I’ll be checking in here from time to time to drop you a line and let you know what’s going on with the latest shipment out of Australia. We’ll see how we get on but I might also shoot through the odd update on what is happening in the industry and you might even hear my opinion on a few things.

Some of my colleagues in the industry might pop in every now and then and add their two cents worth - a few stockmen and vets - maybe we’ll even drag in a ship’s Captain if we’re lucky!

Keep checking back here for updates, or you can subscribe with this RSS thing and be told when the blog is updated. If you want to send your comments or feedback you can email me at: stockman@liveexportcare.com

In the meantime, have a look through the site and find out a few facts on Australian livestock exports.

Hooroo
Frosty

Hi,

I am Carolyn Young and have been around animals all my life having been born on the land.  In 1987 I formed Stock Air Export Pty Ltd as an exporting agency for thousands of head of livestock, including horses, camelids, deer, ostriches and pigs exporting to New Zealand, Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, P.R. China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan), United States of America, Canada, South America, Europe, South Africa and the Middle East.

It is this background and expertise, which has led to the next step in the pursuit of excellence within the livestock industry:  The establishment of Surburton Livestock Export Pty Ltd in 1996 to offer an alternative and improved service to clients involved in the export of cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo, camelids and deer to which you are now required to be licensed with the Australia Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS).

With the introduction of GST, I amalgamated Stock Air Export and Surburton Livestock Export and now trade as Surburton Livestock Export Pty Ltd.  The majority of my consignments are transported by air with a small percentage going by sea in particular to P.R. China with dairy cattle and to the Middle East with a variety of animals such as goats, deer, alpacas and horses and all being exported for breeding purposes.

I attend all the loading of my consignments whether it be at the airport or ship-side and travel with the animals by air to the point of disembarkation.  The animals travelling by sea are attended to by accredited stock persons.

 I’m looking forward to keeping in touch,

Cheers
Carolyn

Since I checked in with you last I’ve been pretty busy working on some young horses to get them ready for our mustering season, as well as checking, fixing and installing water points for our cattle. It’s been very hot the last month with quite a few days at 47 degrees and none under 42, so we’ve also been doing a few rain dances - the country could do with a well earned drink very soon, that’s my place below.

Last time I said I’d explain why we choose the live trade for our cattle. Well, there are a couple of reasons.

Firstly, because we are located in the north of Australia we have very few marketing options for our cattle aside from the live trade. With Indonesia being nearly as close as our capital city, Perth, the live trade just makes sense. While it would take us 24 hours to drive our cattle to the closest abattoir (which is over 1500 kilometres away), it takes us just two hours to drive to our closest port.

Secondly, we breed cattle that suit the demands of the Asian and Middle Eastern markets. Like any market, there are different specifications required by different consumers. Our hot, dry environment means we breed the type of animal that naturally complements the strict requirements from countries that demand live animals.

Thirdly, the countries we export to need live animals for religious, cultural and geographical reasons. Religious and cultural requirements dictate the need for live animals in these countries – these requirements have been around forever, and they are not about to change overnight. And people in rural and regional areas need live animals because they don’t have fridges or access to supermarkets like we do. 

Despite what animal rights activists say, replacing the live trade with the chilled meat trade is simply a fairy-tail alternative. The fact of the matter is that there are many other countries around the world (Somalia, Brazil and China are only some) that would quickly take over supplying live animals if Australia was forced to pull out of the trade – it is not as simple as replacing one trade with the other. And these countries do not have the high standards of animal welfare that Australia does.

I am proud of the contribution that Australia is making to animal welfare in Asia and the Middle East. I have visited a feedlot in Asia where Australian cattle live after being imported, and I can tell you that the facilities were at a high standard, the place was peaceful and the cattle were very content. Without Australia’s positive influence in these countries, animal welfare standards and improvements would be obsolete - now that’s what I call real, gutsy animal care. So it seems to me that from an animal welfare point of view, it is essential that Australia grows stronger in the trade. Without us, animal welfare standards would drop.

Without this trade, my career and the future of our family property looks very dismal. If Australia didn’t have a live trade we would have no market and no income – and it would not be an option for us to just walk off our property, we have the responsibility to care for our animals and our land. And it is not only my family we are talking about, it is thousands. This is why I think the trade will only continue to grow stronger in the future - our industry has people with persistent, immense, lifelong passions which can only translate into stronger standards and more exciting ventures in the trade in the future.

Sorry I haven’t checked in for a while, but I’ve been busy with mustering, which we do for around four months of the year to manage our herd of cattle.

Mustering is also the time that we sell our cattle, almost all of which will be exported live to Indonesia, with some also going to the Middle East.

Mustering days are very busy. They mainly consist of getting up at around 5.30 am, grabbing a quick breakie, making your lunch and taking your horse, buggy or bike out to bring in the cattle. There are also other days when we shoe horses, work in the yards with the cattle or fix our buggies – but there’s always a nice cold beer at the end of the day!

We need a lot of help this time of year – there are usually about five or six people in our mustering team. They come from all over, including the south of Western Australia, the east of Australia and even some from overseas. We all work together and live together, so you get to know the team pretty well, and they all enjoy their time here. I’ll introduce you to some of them in my next entry.

Before I sign off I would encourage you all to read Dr Nigel Brown’s article on the industry. He has the real story to tell about lifting animal welfare standards in the Middle East with the help of the Australian livestock export industry. Catch up with you again soon.