PALE, thanks for the qcl references. My brother tells me Milking Cows are now very scarce & although he sold one to a dairy farmer out of his area one of the problems is the farmer does not want to bring into his herd a disease that up to now has not been in their area.

Prices for dairy cattle also tells us the scarcity of the mature milking animal. Most of the animals we exported to China, Indonesia were young heifers bred for that market, he tells me.

“The Central Tableland Livestock Exchange Premier Female sale was held at Carcoar on Friday, where Angus cows with calves topped the market at $1550.”
http://theland.farmonline.com.au/news/state/livestock/cattle/cows-with-calves-to-1550-at-ctlx-female-sale/1338415.aspx

Prices may drop as herds increase, or the price may increase with demand for more 'fresh,' milk.

Dickie, I was raised on a small mixed farm, we grew our own fresh vegetables & fruit where practical and lived on milk, eggs & a morsel of meat sent out with the Carrier who took the milk to the factory. I never saw a kerosene fridge until I was 8 years old, I spent 5th grade boarding with an aunt & uncle in the city of Ipswich as our local school was downgraded to a few classes. They had an 'ice chest,' and did not see the need for a fridge until the ice man stopped calling.

The dairy got a Dairy Queen refrigerator powered by a larger diesel engine that ran both it and the milking machine as that farm never had mains power up the day our parents sold it. Dad was 51 & mother 59, probably too asset rich for the dole, so they purchased another dairy farm and went on until age & illness stopped them at 82 & 95years.

The last couple of days I have sent off a letter re live exports to the Prime Minister & one to Greg Hall reminding him the Fitzroy’s dilemma will not go away & it is the second largest water catchment next to the Murray Darling, and just as important.

Greetings all

A Current Affair on the Nine Network will tonight, (Wednesday 22 October) feature Animals Australia's plea to Australian farmers to not export their animals to the Middle East for the annual Eid-al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) which will be held in December this year.

Animals Australia's investigators have been in the middle East for the last three Festivals of Sacrifice. Evidence they have documented confirms that this is the worst time of animal suffering in the Middle East.

Whilst A Current Affair, due to their 6:30 pm timeslot, will only be able to feature a small amount of the footage, the segment will spotlight the live export industry's role in supplying animals to this festival and their failure to inform farmers as to the treatment their animals are likely to receive.

Animals Australia, through its work in the Middle East, has forged many wonderful friendships with local Muslim people who care deeply about the welfare of animals. Islam preaches kindness to animals, but without laws to protect them, there is nothing to prevent such treatment from routinely occurring—and from being believed to be 'acceptable'. Australia's live export industry has contributed enormously to this belief through their willingness to supply millions of Australian animals each year to the Middle East.

Last weekend, a Middle Eastern conference on animal welfare held in Cairo with delegates from throughout the Middle East displayed a conference banner that said "No to long distance transport", and called for live exports to be replaced by chilled meat. Much of the conference material was based on footage and photographs obtained during Animals Australia's investigations in the Middle East.

Please encourage friends, colleagues and family to watch A Current Affair tonight.

In the meantime, you may like to view the following footage on the Eid Muslim festival etc, however, I should warn this footage is not for the faint-hearted:

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/the-eid-festival-around-the-world-graphic-photos

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/this-years-eid-festival-from-around-the-world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1_BOAF7qvk

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/exposed-the-long-cruel-road-to-the-slaughterhouse-781364.html

Cheers

Pale,
I think somethings you stated in your post of 20-10 need some correction or at least clarification.

Firstly, my knowledge of history is that the first shipment of livestock came with the "First Fleet" in 1788. The stock were owned by the Government so it is doubtful if any private company was involved. Some of the stock may have come from England, but more likely were loaded at Rio, where the fleet spent considerable time, or at Capetown.

I expect that the stock were assessed as free from disease as possible at that time as deaths en route was a direct loss. I doubt that Foot and Mouth was a recognised disease at that time.

Some of the cattle did get away, but not in the middle of a city as there was no city, merely a settlement. The cattle strayed as far away to what is now Campbelltown and the area was known as the Cow Pastures. There is still a road there called Cow Pastures Road.

As the Government owned the cattle, an embargo was put to stop people traveling to the area. Poaching of the cattle was probably a death sentence. The embargo meant that, to expand, the Blue mountains were crossed in 1813 (I think) and the South/West was not opened up until 1820, even though there were no mountains to cross.

If you hold a different view to this I would like you to let us know.

Hot off the press folks:!

STOP LIVE EXPORTS
MEDIA STATEMENT
22 October 2008

LIVESTOCK EXPORTER FIGHTS PUBLIC SCRUTINY

On Friday 24 October the Administrative Appeals Tribunal will hear live animal exporter Graham Daws’ fight to keep secret key documents about a voyage in which large numbers of sheep died.

Mr Daws is opposing the public release of a report of an Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service investigation which relates to a live export voyage from Fremantle to the Middle East in 2005. Over 1,500 sheep died during the voyage.

Mr Daws gained notoriety in February 2008 when he and his company, Emanuel Exports Pty Ltd, narrowly escaped conviction for animal cruelty relating to a live export voyage in November 2003.

Mr Daws has not made public his reasons for opposing the release of the Investigation Report.

Mr Daws’ opposition to the public release of the AQIS Investigation Report is in direct contrast to AQIS’s position that exporters ought to publicly release completed Investigation Reports in order to improve the transparency of the live export trade.

After the Cormo Express disaster in 2003, when over 5,500 sheep died, the Federal Parliament passed laws requiring summary information on all live export journeys to be reported to Parliament.

Animals Australia's Legal Counsel Malcolm Caulfield says: “Animals Australia has sought this Investigation Report under a Freedom of Information application. In 1991 Mr Daws also fought to keep details of live export voyages secret from the public. Mr Daws' action clearly indicates that live exporter claims of increased public accountability are yet more window dressing”.

Mr Daws’ application in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal is Daws v Department of Forestry & Fisheries and Animals Australia Inc No. 2007/5512.

Animals Australia will be making submissions to the Tribunal in support of the release of the documents.

Note: An estimate of 2,200,000 animals have been dumped overboard - (some abandoned at sea, suffering an agonising death from burning) - and the numbers are increasing!

Hey Banjo

We are well aware of cow pastures Rd. I lived there many years ago. I will be happy to discuss the history of Elders Later."

Mr Jim Dwyer who is still alive and living on the Gold Coast would be the one for you to learn from.

AS hard cookie abattoir worker his his memory on Elders live exports are still vivid . His fight STOP live exports from Australia lead him to a meeting with four others with the then PM of NZ.

For now I think we should give Dickies posts "full attention ".

Pale,
Could i suggest that you forward both your and my comments to Jim Dwyer as i am quite happy to discuss this with anyone who has knowledge.

Would you forward comments to Jim and ask him to make contact via this forum?
Thus leaving you free to give attention to Dickies post.