Nine Lives

"The business of live sheep exports is a key to Australia, offering a vital industry for sheep producers to sell their cattle to and underlying the market for domestic sheep farm.

The majority of sheep are exported from the port of Fremantle in Western Australia, with nearly three quarters of Australian sheep exported from this port in 2009. Over 50% of sheep market sheep production in Western Australia are exported live abroad, which makes the company particularly crucial to the economy of Western Australia. Other ports that export of live sheep are composed of Portland and Port Adelaide.

Australian sheep exported to the Middle East, mainly in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and the UAE. In 2009, over 3.5 million sheep were exported to these countries in the world, with Kuwait taking the lead and 950,000 and 747,000 in Bahrain taking the lead sheep, respectively. The number of sheep exported in 2009 represented a decrease of 15% over the previous year, with demand for the export of live sheep far exceeds supply in the market for Australian sheep production last year. This has prompted calls for the market raising sheep to rebuild herds of sheep in the years to come.

In 2009, the export of live sheep contributed 323 million dollars for the Australian economy.

Australia also has an export of live cattle and live goat business for export, mainly export to countries across Southeast Asia. Indonesia may be the primary industry for companies to export live cattle, and Malaysia could be the primary market for your export market for live goats. The export market for live cattle contributed 662 million dollars for the Australian economy in 2009, and companies live goat exports contributed 11.5 million dollars.

Australia is also involved in the export market for meat, the export of chilled and frozen beef, sheep and goat meat goods to nations around the world, in addition to the breeding export. This is simply because there is demand for red meat too, like farming nations overseas, and Meat and Livestock Australia is investing in the promotion of these items to foreign buyers.

This is really why the arguments that Australia could stop providing live sheep exports and replaced by exports of sheep meat are not realistic. Both businesses are complementary, and it's not as easy as replacing trade with the others because they meet the needs of different buyers in the markets of the Middle East.

Meat and Livestock Australia and LiveCorp invest heavily in improving the welfare of sheep, cattle and goats in the livestock export market.

This investment includes programs aimed at improving the welfare of live sheep exports after their arrival in the Middle East. This includes recruiting a team of animal welfare experts who work with area veterinarians, farmers, truckers, feedlot operators and port personnel to improve the way the Australian sheep are supported in the region.

This team offers training courses for workers in nearby facilities updates and installs new equipment and infrastructure to improve the care of sheep in Australia and abroad.

Highlights of this function in 2009 included the development of a sheep wagon, which helps workers inside the district Middle East to move the sheep humanely and effectively. The carts have been distributed to each of the major importing countries in the region and allow sheep to become comfortable wheels feedlot treatment facilities.

It also included the installation of new facilities for unloading port in Kuwait, who provided sheep are able to be unloaded at Shuwaikh port safely and securely.

This feature has made a considerable difference to the welfare of live sheep exports from Australia, and also the living sh.