October 5, 2011

Australian cattle stockyard's early closure driven by live export issues

A cattle export yard at Port Hedland in Western Australia that has closed for the year, is two months ahead of schedule.

The Hedland Export Depot was in the national spotlight back in June, when nearly 2,000 cattle were stranded in the yards during the suspension of the live export trade to Indonesia.

The stock halted at the yards would have been the first cattle shipment to leave Port Hedland since October 2009.

Owner of the yards, Paul Brown, says that, since the ban, there still haven't been any cattle exported from Port Hedland, which has made it another tough year.

"We've had to write this year off. It didn't matter whether it was closing in September, closing October, it's all the same," he said.

"Just not a good year. We'll just put it in red and leave it at that."

Mr Brown says he would be willing to reopen the yards if they were guaranteed a big cattle shipment.