"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." Confucius - Chinese philosopher and reformer.

This is what my travels in 2008 were all about, I was able to step off the family property and travel abroad to personally investigate and develop a clearer understanding of why it is so important for our family and nation to continue to supply live animals to the world.

You now have an opportunity to read my report to fully capture what I have learnt on this great journey. Below is a small extract of "Sailing Ahead; The Australian Livestock Export Trade", or you can read the full report.

It could be said I embarked on the scholarship with biased opinions supporting the live export industry, having already become part of this sometimes controversial trade. To a degree, this claim may be correct. But I believe my mind was sufficiently open to face the reality of what I was to investigate and the principle that we could adapt if there is the need to change.

Changing livestock supply patterns and increased global demand for fresh protein have been major triggers for the growth of the Australian livestock export market, now so important for Australian livestock producers. Indicators suggest demand for livestock in the global market place will continue.

The Australian export industry has rarely escaped controversy from the Australian processing sector and animal interest groups. The Australian processing sector makes the flawed claim that live exports are the foremost reason for challenges they face including industry rationalization and efficiency pressures. History proves these challenges of industrial relations, compliance and global competition were prevalent before the Australian live export industry became influential. The processing industry will always be the backbone of the Australian red meat industry. It is critical that, like all leading businesses, the processing industry concentrates on strategically positioning itself to survive increasing global and efficiency pressures.

There is legitimacy behind some of the pressure from animal interests groups in response to isolated but unacceptable animal welfare practices in the live export supply chain. Changes, even for the better, do not usually eventuate in any human culture without pressure. However, the solution put forward by these groups in response to any of these challenges is to simply ban the live export trade. This is a vision which does not appreciate the thousands of livelihoods involved in the supply chain or the Australian livestock industry’s future contribution to the nation’s economy and responsibility to supply the global market place with food it demands and requires.

Banishing Australian livestock will not magically improve animal welfare and slaughter practices as there is no evidence to support the claim that stopping live exports will have any positive influence on attitudinal change towards global animal welfare.

The solution proposed by animal interest groups is connected to the ideology: ‘To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing’1. Australia’s livestock export industry is an obvious target for these groups but their broader strategy also questions the country’s entire animal production industry.

This leads to decisions surrounding the future direction of the Australian agricultural and food industry. There is no doubt the cessation of live exports would depress livestock returns and cause the sheep and cattle industries to shrink. This effect would be greater in certain geographical regions of Australia where enterprises were built on the development of the live export market.

This would lead to a domino effect in the entire livestock industry supply chain including the processing sector. Added to this would be animal interest groups also targeting welfare practices within Australia. It can be assumed that, apart from certain niche production units strategically positioned in parts of Australia, the Australian livestock industry would no longer be a key contributor in supplying the global market place with any red meat product.

Lateral thinking would suggest some producers could, to a degree, substitute their current livestock enterprise with another agricultural commodity. This would only be viable in certain geographical regions and their future sustainability of these producers would be threatened due to the reduction in enterprise flexibility. In other regions such as the northern Australian rangelands, the current resourceful and successful livestock industry would no doubt be scaled down and in some cases become insolvent. For thousands of Australian families this scenario would mean the total devastation of their career, passion, history and livelihood. For some other people outside the livestock industry this outcome would be insignificant and, for some, a victory.

This is because certain players would rather see Australian livestock reduced to minimal numbers or even totally abolished. The concept of no livestock in a mixed agricultural enterprise, a national park replacing the current Australian rangeland industry, or even ending all livestock production in Australia, would be well received by some people.

Livestock stakeholders passionate about their future contribution to the industry and all people directly or indirectly involved with live exports must embrace responsible, scientifically acceptable and profitable benchmarks for animal welfare. All Australians must acknowledge the contribution of this industry not only to their dinner tables, but those throughout the world. The Australian public must put trust in the Australian livestock industry and move forward to continue to responsibly supply the world with safe, wholesome red meat in the form of live exports, or frozen or chilled products.

1 Elbert Hubbard. US author. (1856 - 1915).

The month of travelling in Bahrain, Oman, Dubai, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and Jordan has given me a small but fortunate taste of the everyday life, culture, values and importantly food throughout the Middle East! 

Many a time I’ve been genuinely overwhelmed by the welcoming and kindness of the people, many will literally walk up to you and ask your name, where you are from and welcome you to their country. Just the other day I had only briefly met a butcher in a small village in Oman, he insisted to take me to his warm home and meet his lovely wife, they showed me pictures of their family, gave me tea, food and a lovely gift on departure, people seem to care your general safety and quality of stay whilst you are there in their country. I hope I can continue to remember feeling this goodwill and return the favour to people travelling throughout Australia. 

I’ve also had the opportunity to develop a stronger understanding why these countries want to import a live animal from Australia. Our region in Australia is quite often described as a dry arid piece of country, when you compare it to many parts of the world its probably quite true. However it is not until you experience such dry and severely arid conditions in the Middle East that you understand that logistically these countries will never be able to produce enough animals on their own soil for everybody to have the choice of buying fresh, safe meat. This is because they simply could not supply enough food and water to the many animals that would be required in a long term breeding program. 

Its interesting how many different countries can create their own impersonation of different things, and what ever it may be it is considered the norm in that country. For instance most people must have experienced the look on the face of the British when you ask them the type or colour of thongs they have?! So what do you think of when I say fresh meat? I like most Australians usually think fresh meat as anything that is not frozen, it could well have been aged in the cold chain system for over two weeks before we sit back end enjoy the meal and we would still call it fresh. As I have discovered ‘fresh’ in the Middle East is quite often deceived very differently. 

I like to compare the appreciation of the fresh flavour and texture of eating a seafood that has been caught on the same day. I think the idea of fresh meat with most people in the Middle East is similar, it is usually sheep or cattle that have been processed on the day of purchase, it is also something that has been fed with some local fodder and processed by the people with in their own country. The majority Australians are fortunate enough to have the choice of either going to the supermarket and buying chilled seafood or choosing to use the fresh market to buy the fresh fish that have been caught that morning and of course to take the other option to throw the line and pull in our own (as they say a bad days fishing beats a good days work anytime).
I believe this is what the live animal export trade is all about! Giving people a quality of life by giving them the choice of the type of meat they require for their own personal values and customs. Some do have the option and infrastructure if they wish to buy from a supermarket chilled meat that has been processed and imported from Australia or instead they can choose to use the fresh market to buy their meat that has usually been processed that morning, or even at times buy their own live animal from the market for their religious festivals.

This is why the simple notion of simply sending “chilled meat that has been slaughtered in Australia, its just the same”  is an example of the ignorance by perceiving what we expect as normal in their country, chilled meat and fresh meat in this country are two very separate preferences . Next time you may hear this try and compare it to someone taking away your fresh seafood market or bakery where you have the choice of purchasing fresh bread baked every morning. 

As an Australian livestock producer supplying animals to these people, it is about complimenting my advantages of having enough grass and area for my animals to happily breed and grow and then supplying the choice of fresh meat, of which people value in their life and culture.

I am currently completing an Australian Nuffield Farming scholarship. I have been sponsored by the Australian agricultural industry to travel to key markets and study global agriculture with particular attention to the Australian livestock export trade. This experience will give me a foundation to take ideas back to Australia and assist in guiding the trades direction for a resilient future.

I represent thousands of people across Australia and as I have mentioned many times, the livestock export trade plays a vital role in my personal career and family’s livelihood. We are not only farmers, we are food producers and with the technical and geographical advantages in Australia, I am committed to the prospect of producing food not only for my country but the rest of the world. I am proud that my family in just one year provides over three million meals of safe dominantly fresh beef to many parts of south east Asia and the Middle East. We are just an average middle class farming family in Australia.

I feel obligated to understand the many processes that occur when our animals leave our front gate and continue on their fascinating journey to many parts of the world.

I began my journey in June and I have so far travelled through New Zealand, Ireland, France, the US, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. I’m currently traveling through Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Dubai, Egypt and Jordan.

For the last few weeks I have been meeting vessels with the thousands of sheep and cattle that have arrived from their 12 day voyage from Australia. I have met the crews, captains, Australian stockmen and vets. I walked every single deck of these vessels and found it very similar to my own experience when working as a stockperson two years ago, healthy content animals with clean food and water with enough room to lie down and move freely around the pens. I have witnessed them walk from the ship onto trucks that take them to feedlots. I have spent time and personally met people in these feedlots.  I have seen them be loaded onto trucks and followed them to abattoirs. I have been welcomed into these abattoirs to simply observe and understand their practices.

I have also been taking the time to personally understand people who demand live animals, why and what they demand, now and into the future.

The more time I spend overseas the more I am convinced of a positive future for the livestock export industry. I plan to keep you up to date with my journey and I encourage you to keep track of my movements as you too can learn from my personal reflections and honest observations of the day to day life of Australian livestock in these countries. 

Smiles are still about after a busy day, we are so fortunate to have such a special bunch of people as part of the station team.

Let me introduce the years legendary girls we have to our right Kelsie, Tiffany, Moneeka, Simone and Kat.

It’s that time of the year again….

The days are cool, the grass dry and once again the mustering season is upon us.

We have some great new people helping us this year and some of the same from last time; I’ll introduce you to them soon.

Now we have had to time to fix the fences, bring in the horses, fuel the motorbikes and wipe the cob webs from the helicopter blades. It has been a very busy few months bringing in the cattle.

I also have another interesting adventure ahead of me, this month I’m heading off around the world for the rest of the year, I plan to spend most of my time studying the future direction of the livestock export trade, an amazing beneficial experience ahead of me.

So be sure to drop back in for a visit and I’ll keep you up to date of the colourful year ahead.

Cheers

I think this Sturt Pea - my favorite flower - is a great Aussie flower to use for Christmas colours, sure beats the introduced plastic holly. It grows all over our country, the cattle love it as well so it can sometimes be a race of who gets it first.

Christmas time is a very typical Pilbara weather pattern for December, usually very hot and dry. We are therefore are very busy around this period checking and fixing windmills to keep the water up to the cattle. A lot of the crew I introduced you to have now gone home, there are only two of us left to do the work.

However we always plan our week so that we can, like most of us, have the big day off. Friends arrive and we eat great food, drink beer and of course crack a few bottles of ‘bangs bangs’ (champagne) through out the day.

If the waters are behaving we set off on Boxing Day to the coast just 100km north of our property. The sea is always a great place for a change of scene - especially when you’ve got the beach to yourself and a big fish or mud crab for dinner to celebrate.

I’ve got a busy, exciting year in 2008 and I will keep you updated. For the time being enjoy the silly season, I hope there is plenty cheer for you all.

Hello there, I’m Annabelle Coppin.

Thanks for taking the time to see the real side of the live export industry; how important it is to my family and how interesting, responsible and answerable the industry really is!

I’m 22 years old and work on our family cattle station in the Pilbara, North West WA. It’s beautiful country up here, very unique, gets a bit hot in summer and sometimes very dry. My brother and I grew up here - there’s no better way to grow up, we had all the freedom in the world and learnt the responsibility of caring for all types of animals at a very young age. We did get sent off to boarding school in Perth for the last five years of our education, mostly to see the other side of life and give us the chance to become a Doctor or lawyer if we wanted! However that option didn’t burn inside me and my brother and I are now both part of the family business. My dad and his dad and his granddad also grew up on the place and my mum next door, so as you can gather we love the place and strive to keep it alive and viable.

The best thing about my job is that it is focused around animals - and the lifestyle’s not bad either! The responsibility of caring for 10,000 head of cattle is motivating and the sky is the limit in terms of the skill I can gain with animals. Working in Australian agriculture is exciting and innovative, as well as very challenging. It is a career and a profession that I certainly won’t be swapping for anything.

I also get a lot of variety with my work, some days I work with cattle, others I may be spending time on our horses, flying a plane, working on the computer, putting up a new fence or fixing watering points. Not all of my day to day jobs are highly exciting or overly romantic, especially when its 45 degrees, has not rained for a long time and you are fighting with a rusty old bolt at the top of a hot windmill tower. But when the sun goes down, job satisfaction is always at its maximum and for that I believe I am very fortunate.

The cattle on our station are our income. The majority of them go live on ships to Indonesia, some also to Malaysia, and some to the Middle East (mainly Israel). I actually went with some of them as a stockperson on a cattle ship from Broome to Darwin and then up to Jakarta in July last year. There were 16,000 head of cattle on board, and some of these were from our property.

During the journey my responsibility, along with 4 other Australian stock people, was purely to look after the welfare of the cattle. We were all trained and experienced with cattle and knew when they would need assistance to make them more content. The cattle were kept and maintained in quality conditions, and had 24 hour access to food and water and enough room to move around and lay down.

I could write a whole blog on this but for now to keep it straightforward and simple; the live export industry would not be viable if the cattle were not content and well cared for. The cattle have to maintain and even put on weight during the export process for this whole trade to be worthwhile, it is not profitable otherwise.  I might give you a more detailed look at my voyage experience in another edition if you are all interested.

So, as you can see, I have seen the live export process with my own eyes and I have no trouble stating that I have great faith in the high standards of animal welfare that are set in Australia’s live export industry; these ensure that our cattle are kept under some of the best conditions in the world.

That’s it for now, but I’ll be keeping in touch with you from time to time, updating you with a few more stories and photos. Next time I’ll tell you more about why the live export industry is so important to my family and the people who buy the cattle overseas.

In the meantime, feel free to email me here:  stockman@liveexportcare.com

Cheers,