July 22, 2011

Australian northern abattoirs stop accepting cattle to process

Cattle from Australia's Northern Territory are being sent as far south as South Australia to be processed as northern abattoirs cannot take anymore.

Anna Weir from Amaroo Station 136 kilometres out of Alice Springs says they usually send their cattle to Townsville but the waiting list is too long.

She says with more cattle being processed domestically due to the Indonesia live trade upset, they have no choice but to truck their cattle to Murray Bridge to be processed.

"We've transported six loads and it's costing us US$100 a head extra in transport costs."

She says, "We have no choice, we have to make a living. Already the price is dropping, the grid has come back US$0.20-$0.30 and I don't think that's going to improve, I think it's going to get tougher. Australia just can't handle all these cattle from up north on our domestic market."