Greedy cattlemen export Australia’s unique Brahman genetics for short term gain
A national livestock exporter says it will be sending 200 breeding heifers to Indonesia on a 747 jumbo jet.
The purebred Brahman breeders, from Bunda Station in the Victoria River District, are all less than six months’ pregnant, and will go to an Indonesian government farm to help improve the genetics of the local stock.
But Angus Grieve, from Lembiru Livestock, says there’ll be no inflight movies for the animals.
“They’re going cattle class unfortunately,” he said…
“So they’re loaded into wooden crates at the airport terminal and then from those crates they get loaded directly into cargo hold of the aircraft.
“So it’s just a 747 cargo plane, so it’s just a big empty hull.”
Indonesia has placed tough restrictions on our live cattle entering the country because of the stupidity of Agriculture Minister Bill Ludwig when he placed an overnight ban on the Indonesia trade last year.
The Indonesian Government said earlier this year it now had enough cattle to become self-sufficient and dramatically wound back the numbers being imported.
When we see short-sighted Australian cattlemen giving away our genetics for short-term gain? Is it any wonder the Indonesians no longer want large numbers of our store cattle.
Australia has, without any forward planning, sent tens of thousands of heifers to Indonesia over the past decade and their farmers have now bred up a large herd of feeder cattle, to the detriment of our exporters.
Animals Australia and the ABC’s Four Corners have a lot to answer for, after screening dodgy footage of Indonesian abattoir workers mistreating cattle.
An investigation by Federal Parliamentarians found the slaughtermen were set up by Animals Australia to portray a bad image for Australian viewers, in the hope the trade would cease.
The malcontents within Animals Australia should have been prosecuted and jailed, or even worse according to many northern cattle producers.
Monday, 22/10/2012