Custard, let me be permitted to give you a short history lesson concerning the reason for the closing of Australian abattoirs.

Back a while ago, the slaughter-man's union imposed quotas on the numbers of beasts that could be killed in a day. As a result of improvements in efficiency over time, many slaughterhouses found that that they were paying men a full day's wages for half a day's work and quite a few of the smaller ones went broke and were forced to close. It had nothing to do with the live export trade at all. Most of them would have liked to remain open and provide work for their local communities, but it was not possible.

David

Yabby,

Taking what you, Custard, and VK3AUU have said, we still have a problem requiring a solution - cattle handling in those featured Indonesian abattoirs is obviously grossly inhumane, and excuses and explanations are not going to hold water with the Oz public. So, if the cattle can not be fattened and then slaughtered in Nth Oz (or wherever), there has to be an assurance of proper treatment all through the processing chain by corrective measures, including particularly in the abattoir handling.

These "stun gun boxes" you mention, Yabby, what exactly are they, and will they avoid this process of roping the feet and slamming the beast onto the concrete? In other words, do they facilitate the animal being humanely slaughtered while in a standing position? And, what sort of cost would they be?

Earlier in this thread, I posted a suggestion for an adult-sized, and much enhanced, hydraulically operated equivalent of a "calf cradle", which could enable very quick and efficient humane slaughter. I figure they would cost a fair sum, and I'm not aware of any similar mechanism being in use anywhere in Oz. Do any of you have any thoughts on this proposition please? I would appreciate your opinions, or any other suggestions.

In the event that these "stun gun boxes" still do not obviate the possibility of the animals being mistreated, with reasonable assurance, then I don't think they can be altogether satisfactory. But, better than nothing, I guess.

No, the AMIEU was just as big a ratbag as the owners/operators of the Meatworks. Generally Industries get the Unions they deserve and the AMIEU was about as firey as they come. That said, it is a bl--dy hard job, in frightful conditions, with real danger involved. That is why the pay was comparatively good, that said, it is nothing on the pay-packets of fly-in/fly-out workers (or the cost of shipping them halfway across the State). The profit margins for the Meatworks were extremely high and remain so overseas.

Simply put, some unscrupulous operators undercut everyone else by setting up massive Meatworks in regional Australia. These made most of the smaller operators uncompetitive forcing them to close. Then the Government of the Day decided to give in to the Nationals who had long wanted to access low-value markets in our region, with no-value added, beef on the hoof (with a higher profit margin and lower sales requirements) than our traditional packed meat markets further afield.

That saw the demise of much of the Meat Industry, that single decision to lift the restrictions on live-export destroyed entire communities purely so that rich Beef producing Companies could get richer (these are the charmers who bought out most of the little farmers during the 80's for a pittance and laid off a generation of ringers/jackeroos/jilleroos).

Blaming the AMIEU for the overwhelmingly profit-driven moves of the few remaining major producers in inaccurate and overly simplistic. The fact these Corporations care nothing about the welfare of the animals is hardly surprising given their callous handling of entire communities. If they are driven to the wall there will not be a tear in many, many suburbs/regional towns where entire communities were driven bankrupt by their decisions.

Salpetre, the stun gun boxes are quite a simple design, they were
actually shown right at the start of the 4 Corners programme,
as used in Indonesia already in 5, going on 10 meatworks. I gather
that they are much the same as we use here, to produce halal
certified beef.

Nope, no roping of the cattle. The operator approaches the animal
from above, stuns it, it is then released and can be bled by
the normal process.

Australia already has much experience with stunning halal certified
beef. The same system can be used in Australia.

Whatever it would cost, would be insignificant in comparative terms.
These things are not rocket science to build. If it requires
that we invest a few million $ to set it all up, so be it. We
already give away 4 billion $ a year in foreign aid each year.

The great thing is that Indonesian cattle would benefit as well and
that is the whole idea really, the concept of slowly introducing
animal welfare in parts of the third world, where we operate.

I can assure you that if those boats change direction and load
up with Brazilian cattle, nobody will fuss too much about cruelty
or broken legs.

People will hear a big lie, but only little lies we can resist. Question? If you know your human, why are you so ugly? Yes! meat burgers...We all get that one, but where do we get the killing of animals from? not religion....No...that couldn't be why we are so cruel or the top species of what we talk about:)

Yes! your right:) I have become a runner.

Oh well done:)

The more we think, the more we see the animal:)

As you are:)

LEAP

*That saw the demise of much of the Meat Industry, that single decision to lift the restrictions on live-export*

Custard, you certainly have a distorted view of history. For of
course even today, less then 10% of cattle are exported live, 90%
processed here. 10%, according to you, saw the demise of much
of the meat industry! Hardly logical. But there is more:

*than our traditional packed meat markets further afield.*

Oops, Britain joined the EU, Australia was largely locked out.
In the 60s, we produced huge amounts of tinned beef, the world
changed and no longer wanted meat in tins.

The EU went on to create its butter and meat mountains and dumped
these products on any market around the world where they could.
Australia had to compete somehow. We developed new markets,
hamburger beef for the US, Japan for higher value. Plus a host
of third world markets, for we were locked out of much of the
first world.

Meantime our real labour costs kept increasing, so the only way
to become efficient was to mechanise. Large works were the future.
as in every other industry, the days of mom and pop outfits were
limited.

It is because those decisons were taken at the time, that our
industry can compete today, despite some of the highest wages
on the planet. Hard workers? They went mining, an industy which
was relatively insignificant compared to agriculture, in the 60s.