May 16, 2013

Australian ranchers kill cattle due to lack of feed

Fuelled by drought and the smaller live export trade, cattle ranchers in Northern Australia have had to resort to shooting their cattle because they just cannot feed or sell them.

The drought and the smaller live export trade have been blamed for the current conditions that cattle ranchers find themselves in. One of Australia's largest beef producers was quoted as saying that the industry has little choice but to shoot cattle.

Beef industry leaders have been warning this would happen. Over summer, much of northern Australia did not receive traditional monsoonal rain. That meant grass did not grow, so in parts, there's nothing for cattle to eat.

North west Queensland grazier Malcolm McClymont says conditions are worse than the 1974 world beef price collapse.

Sisters Chanelle and Debra run a cattle station in northern Australia and say they've shot weak and sick cattle that don't have food to eat.

There are hundreds of northern Australian cattle producers who say their pain was avoidable. They blame the Federal Government's 2011 live cattle export suspension with Indonesia, a trade that's plunged into decline since that decision.