rehctub,

Thanks
I was actually referring to beef. I am in QLD and we export most of our Animals Live.
Yes I am aware of USA who of course were the brainchild- or without brains not to mention common decency towards animals.

However it wasn’t my intention to divert your thread into a debate about the live Animal Export trade.

I just wanted to point out that we compete now on a world wide market for our meat especially beef and as Asia gets stronger so do our prices go up here in Australia and our supply lowers.

The way in which is supply Aussies with good prices and ongoing supply is of course to reopen plant and export our meat in boxes.

Clearly there is as you know an enormous trade of lamb going to ME and other places.

We are experiencing the price hike as agents battle it out at the stock yards.

One of the other issues that is very important for Australia to be aware of is there are people in interested to produce here in Australia.

We are arranging a meeting for heads of Muslim reps and RSPCA National to sit at the table and talk about alternative options as part of the Handle with Care Campaign Run by RSPCA working world wide with over ten other Animals Welfare groups including the Humane Society-
pale runs the RSPCA QLD campaign against live exports.

http://www.rspcavic.org/campaigns_news/campaigns_handle_with_care.htm

In the mean time rehctub, to go back to the 'bone of your thread -I see one store has offered a ten percent discount to pensioners.

How would that stack up for you in a small butchers shop.

Do you think perhaps that may be a way of getting the small butcher back on the map or is it too much to carry in you opinion?

Good to talk to someone who knows what they are on about and can thow a few words together.

Couldnt agree with you more on your coments addressing the farmers.

We all have to do our bit.

Good luck to you rehctub,

Well Spoken

I do not and never will support live exports of animals. For me it is the cruelty; nothing else.

Is meat good value for money?

No! It bloody well is not!

Neck of lamb used to be the cheapest of cheap cuts, it made a decent and cheap little casserole:- Now $7.99 a kg average.

Ribs were sold as stock bones at one point; made good soup:- Now sold as 'American Ribs'- $8.99 a kg ave.

Liver/hearts/tongue:- this offal was a dirt cheap little meal:- Now $5-6-7.99 a kg ave.

There is example after example.

Given what the farmer is getting per animal, the supermarket and even the butcher is ripping off the public BIG TIME!

Coles/Woolworths use a marketing tactic where they will over price meat but tell you that you are 'saving' $5-10 or more a kg.

RUBBISH!! That would take some of the cheaper cuts of meats well over the $20 a kg mark. A blatant lie. (It HAS been monitored).

A technique designed to fool the consumer into thinking they are getting value for money. Nothing could be further from the truth.

*Furthermore, it is our 'poor bleeding heart farmers' that are to blame because after all it is they who chase the easy export dollars by exporting live.*

earlier it was

*Nineteen years ago I could buy a whole sheep wholesale for $15.00. The farmer was lucky to get $1.00. True – one dollar. The rest was taken up with delivery, production, agent’s costs and government costs.*

There you have it Rehctub, your points say it all, thats why
the live trade exists. When did you give a hoot about farmers incomes?
Clearly as long as you made your margin, even if the farmer
only got a dollar for his sheep, you could not care less, nor could
anyone else for that matter.

Have you ever tried to run a farm and handle all the costs involved?
Clearly not. Have you ever been to a saleyard, where one buyer will
buy for 5 meatworks, so avoiding competition between them? They
say that not everyone in the meat industry is a shark, but every
shark is in the meat industry. There is no better example of this
then WA, where processors can really do as they please, due to
lack of competition. WA has the cheapest lambs in Australia, but
the most expensive lamb in the shops. The middlemen are creaming it
bigtime!

Thats why the live trade needs to exist. Due to the captive market,
we need fair market competition, which presently does not exist.
The live trade keeps the rest of the meat industry at least a tiny
bit honest, on the grades where they actually compete, which is
only on 10% of the overall numbers. Thats why farmers support them.

Yabby

Old school farmers were lead down a trap by savvy political interference encourage or mislead by those involved in the shipping agent industry of live animals.

They were betrayed as the people involved in making their quid out of trade stepped in.
They swamped the country with cheap imports that’s what your great hero’s did.

I see old people who once lived well really battling to buy meat.

We are not saying the live trade is the only reason for price hikes but it certainly is one of the major factors.

These poor old farmers back then never understood and of course did not ask the right questions and so that was the beginning of ensuring meat prices rose.

Many of them have been pushed out of the industry however the closure of nearly all our abattoirs most certainly has pushed the price of meat up.
That and the lack of availability to the agent who is doing the buying for products.

Given that the majority of the meat works and processing plants were situated within regional areas, the impact of closures of plants has been nothing less than devastating on local communities and business.

There is a direct and indirect economical linkages of meat processing embrace a wide range of sectors including transport, whole sale trade, energy, packaging and paper, plastic products, mechanical and other spares.

I would like to go into this deeper with you but when I do you claim you cant understand me and question my mental well being, or who ever has made the comment on behalf of pale.

That’s an old school thing too. If you can’t win the debate attack the person’s credibility or their personal life.
Well you go right ahead Yabby because the simply truth is as our stock goes live to Asia our prices are going to sore.

The more we send our raw products off in the most valuable form before value adding the harder its going to be for people to survive.

*I was actually referring to beef. I am in QLD and we export most of our Animals Live*

Gertrude, here is a URL about live cattle. Read for youself just
how wrong you are with your claims.

http://www.abareconomics.com/publications_html/livestock/livestock_07/Beef07.pdf

I remind you that the Queensland weekly slaughter statistics are
around the 50'000 head mark, compared to the whole of Australia
live trade of around 5-600'000. In other words, the total cattle
live trade is a very small part of the total cattle kill.
Over 90% of cattle are slaughtered right here, including
Queensland.

Ginx

Firstly, it is hard to respond to your comment ‘used to be cheap’ as I have no idea of when you are referring to.

Neck of lamb used to be the cheapest of cheap cuts, it made a decent and cheap little casserole:- Now $7.99 a kg average.
(Whole lamb whole sale today $5.20Kg - 1985 $1.35 Kg Difference 285% makes $7.99 Kg reasonable considering the increased costs associated with selling the product hey!)

Ribs were sold as stock bones at one point; made good soup:- now sold as 'American Ribs'- $8.99 a kg ave. (85% of pork sold in AU was imported last year. They import boneless middles, this is why ribs are so dear)

Liver/hearts/tongue:- this offal was a dirt cheap little meal:- Now $5-6-7.99 a kg ave. (now exported, this is why the price rise) Little tip, the next time you eat seafood extender, enjoy your tripe, cause that’s what it’s made from.