2630 sheep? Your knowledge or lack of it, about sheep is telling. Sounds like a small flock to me that one farmer would easily handle on farm. As for your comment about pink eye – even you could spot that, and from some distance. I don’t know too many farmers that camp out overnight with their flock either, that only happens in biblical style xmas caroles doesn’t it :)

ONLY two months training. What training did you have before you jumped on this boat (so to speak)

Celivia – I do understand where you are coming from. Although I feel the latter posting have started to mirror the last thread. I am not pro live export either, but I am not one to keep banging my head against the same brick wall.

Do you feel that this trade is going to be stopped? I don’t see it happening, wether we like it or not. Sometimes we have to compromise. I know that comment will bring howls of how we shouldn’t compromise on animal welfare but really, is the protesting that has been done gotten anywhere?

Quoting Hugh Worth achieves what? Come up with some of your own ideas to make conditions better for these animals instead of rehashing the same old stuff.

Letters from Queens, Princes, whatever – what difference have they made. Constantly posting them here has the same effect – biiggg yaaawwwwwn.

http://www.halakindmeats.com/submissions.html
http://www.halakindmeats.com/global.html

Wizard
The above links show a proposal to the Government and Senate enquiry which is supported by Mark Townend RSPCA CEO QLD
AFIC Australian Federation Of Islamic Council and the Humane Society International NSW. People have brought about ideas and its up to the public to support them and the Government to introduce them.

Peter McGauran Minister for Agriculture has expressed he finds the concept interesting in its principle and is awaiting a written proposal. John Howards office has contacted these people last week and is awaiting similar.

After having said that I personally feel nobody could do a better job than the Government of introducing this as a new policy.

It is with this view this policy was put to the Government.


What it takes is everbody working together and as the RSPCA are the Animal Welfare Authority in this country the more their good word is spread the better.

Cilia howls of protests is what changes many laws so keep up the good work. Its not rocket Science to have the common decency to slaughter the animals before they leave the country.

Your efforts in the Church Leaders have a responsibilty towards Animal cruelty have already helped. From that thread alone Griffiths University students doing jounalism have requested to do a report on the Live export Trade.

I am sorry Scout is not posting anymore as Scout has also brought about great points. Thats an example of what can be achieved with people working towards a common goal.

I said some time back I would put up a link so farmers can access Free contacts with people requiring contact with overseas purchasers

I still intend to do that however Iam in a difficult postion not knowing if such leads would be considered a commericial post despite it being something to assist farmers.

Do you have any thought on that Cilia?or Wizard.

What it would be is a list of people from overseas enquirying about Australian products.

Farmers could then have this information free of charge and make contact themselves.



Some might like to look >
http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:-MtSnTDLbbMJ:www.churchilltrust.com.au/res/File/Fellow_Reports/Hides%2520Sue%25201999.pdf+mark+pearson+animal+lib+live+exports&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=10

Breaking Rural News : LIVESTOCK
ABA calls for push to re-open abattoirs to reduce huge queue
Australia
Wednesday, 18 October 2006

Australian Beef Association (ABA) chair, Linda Hewitt, today called on MLA and State Governments to assist in opening recently closed abattoirs.

Urgent action is needed, she says, to help stem the 'meat production disaster' that is engulfing Australia.

She said, “The flood of livestock on to the market is unprecedented.

"So is the speed of the crash to producers.

"When people are paying $1000 for breeders in one month, and in the next month, they are worth under $500, we are into new and frightening territory.

"It's a crisis which is galloping upon all those in the rural Australia.

"Our beef industry has good finished young cattle falling 33pc and good cows falling 38pc in price inside two months.

"Meanwhile the world market remains strong.

“Last week, Australia had filled only 255,000 tonnes of the 378,000-tonnes US beef quota.

"We have been shipping around 6,500 tonnes a week.

"So we will not even reach 300,000 tonnes by the end of November, the ‘cut off’ date for 2006.

How ridiculous!

"We won’t fill 80pc of the US quota.

"Yet we have prices diving to 1975 cattle depression levels.

"This is because ‘drought selling’ has triggered a huge backlog for killing and chiller space.”

Mrs Hewitt said that the MLA should be making the Government aware of this disaster.

MLA and Government jointly introduced the $5/head levy, plus the very costly NLIS and LPA systems, ‘to safeguard our markets’.

Action will assist in restoring employment, stem the price fall, and contribute to fill the remaining US quota.
Australian Beef Association chair, Linda Hewitt, calls for action.

Wizard Cilia. This is the start and if we all work together and multiply throughout Australia it will be a win for Animal Welfare and long term empoyment.

PF, once again you make some very good points! Most of the points
brought up now, as simply stuff thats been gone over again and
again over the various threads. 2600 sheep is
nothing for a stockman to look after on a boat. On modern
boats the feeding and watering systems are automated. Few on
farm sheep would receive the kind of treatment that those sheep
receive! Plenty of farmers run 10'000 sheep on their farms. If
a sheep gets pinkeye, it will simply get over it in time,
no medical treatments etc.

Yup, some sheep in the Middle East are slaughtered privately, as
are some sheep in Australia in the country. The trend in the
Middle East is however towards more and more abbatoirs, as they
urbanise, health regulations come into play etc, so Govts there
are pushing for it, if you read Arab News and similar.

Some of the cruelest things I've seen are actually by hobby
farmers here, when they try to shoot a cow with a .22 for meat
etc. My point is we have plenty of animal welfare issues right
here in Aus, before we arrogantly claim to be so perfect to
all other countries.

Yup, Hugh and the RSCPA have had a philosophical opposition to
live exports, as they have various campaigns, from being against Thai
elephant imports to campaigning for city people to take their
dogs for more walks. I haven't seen any comments by Hugh about
the newly introduced provisions for the live trade, apart from
his longstanding opposition. He is free to have that opinion.

In an ideal world lots of things would happen, but its not an ideal
world and we have to deal with reality as it is, it won't go
away, when we close our eyes and wish it would.

Three companies operate actively in the live sheep trade for meat,
I'm not talking about breeding animals etc exported. All their
boats have to meet the new standards, not just the Wellard boats.
How many decks a boat has is irrelevant. People live in multi story
apartments too.

Actually Banjo, if you look at my post on Graham's farmer subsidies
thread, I have already proposed a much better solution.

Cranking up old run down meatworks takes ages, huge money, USDA
accreditation can take months etc, only to shut those works
down again when droughts end.

Much better to simply introduce a flexible labour policy for
the meat industry, despite the howls of protest from the unions.
Meat production and response to droughts, as it fluctuates with
the weather, will never operate on an even 12 month supply.

The easy solution is to use already existing works, let them
double their shifts at times, by a flexible policy of bringing
in contract workers from China, Philipines etc. The only thing
holding that back is Govt policy, due to unions screaming I
suspect.

Oh! Dear, dear me ….. you must be pretty red faced hey wenny? Jumping around the office kicking yourself mm ?

Must have thought you stopped that identical post going to the wrong thread? And under the name of benny? Some one with the name of banjo patterson plagiarizing another poster? Nahh Wenny caught out, that’s what it is. lol!

i hope 'banjo' is too embarrassed to return after that one?

Another thing. . don’t yabby and I get a vote? After all, if we were’nt here, you’d be practically talking to yourself/s. So my opinion? I don’t want to see propaganda on the forum. I have a business too, but I don’t try and use the forum to shove it down peoples throats.

Really, how can you expect to be taken seriously.

I saw that 60 minutes episode too, the one were they cut the throat of that sheep in front of a shop? I hate to break it to you, but that’s how thousands of sheep are killed in this country. Its not just the farmers that do it for meat either. Plenty of townies turn up at saleyards looking for ‘killers’. Some of those ‘hobby farmer’ on their ‘sea change’ are the worst as yabby says. Trying so act like hard arses. I know a few farmers that prefer to cut the throats of injured and dying sheep because they believe that it is more humane than trying to hit that tiny brain with the first shot. There is a reason they cut throats instead of shooting meat animals, but as you know so much about abattoirs and such, you could tell me?