Crate construction material that doesn’t retain heat, spelling experiments, and siting of abattoirs are crystal ball ideas put forward by people in the livestock industry as they grapple with the ongoing need to maximise returns, and transport’s place in that.
Transport innovations as a way of improving the number of cattle that meet MSA standards were debated at the recent MLA conference in Adelaide, with the distances experienced in northern Australia making it even more of a challenge.
Queensland producer Ian McCamley believes the industry is looking to address the symptoms rather than the problem, and he would like to see abattoirs resited in the heart of prime production areas instead of along the coastal strip.
"Perhaps we are getting ahead of ourselves talking about air-conditioned trucks.
“We have trucks that have to stop at 27 different sets of lights between farm and factory and we wonder why we get dark cutters.”
Using Roma in south west Queensland as an example, he said the last 300km down the range to Dinmore was unnecessary.
“It’s not the processors’ fault they are in the middle of suburbs – when they were built they were in paddocks – but using the principle of siting the trough in the middle of the paddock, how many cattle come from the Pacific Ocean?”
Relocating abattoirs off the Queensland coast would have economic, community safety and animal welfare benefits, according to Ian, who noted that modern refrigerated trucks transporting beef could be back-loaded much more easily than livestock trailers.
“Livestock trailers are specialised and operate on average 52 per cent loaded and 48pc empty.
“Carting beef in a box is around five times more cost effective than carting cattle live.”
He believed Queensland could handle three big plants in regional Queensland, and said the $40m being spent on upgrading roads to take road trains to the abattoir at Rockhampton could be put into relocating it instead.
He would like to see incentives and compensation offered to existing processors to entice them to relocate their large plants out of what have become unsuitable urban areas.
“Towns like Goondiwindi, Roma and Emerald have grown significantly and are more than capable of supporting a beef processing plant and its employees, as far as housing, cropping and services goes.”
Cattle Council of Australia board member David Hill said the talk of building plants at Hughenden and Emerald was all good, “but if we can’t take plants to the animals, we’ve got to do better with the way we take the animal to the plant”.
Spelling suggestion
While the suggestion by another member in the MLA audience of putting cattle on feed for 20 days to get them over the journey was shot down as being too costly, Mr Hill said a 48 hour spell could be looked at on arrival at processing plants.
He cited an experiment at Borthwicks in Mackay in which 200 head went through normal curfew conditions and another 200 were rested, which he said resulted in 15 extra kilograms for the latter.
“The first day they lay round and rested, and on the second day they filled up a bit.”
He said in a similar experiment with nearly 400 head from Cloncurry, only half a dozen ended up as dark cutters.
He said Borthwicks wouldn’t have done it if they couldn’t see a return.
“We could trial different times – 48 hours might not be optimal – and a business case needs to be made too. But industry has to look at this in a different way to what we’ve done in the past.”
Spelling for 48 hours or more would make cattle MSA-ineligible, Mr Hill acknowledged, which needed to be taken into consideration.
Taking the heat off
One different way to reduce stress on animals suggested by Queensland Livestock and Rural Transporters Association immediate past president, David Scott, is to find a material to make stock crates from that doesn’t retain heat, while still being light and allowing adequate ventilation.
Mr Scott said the old wooden crates had been the best for heat reflection, and it would be good to find a space-age material that replicated those properties while not being too heavy.
Current president Ian Wild added that advances in reflective paint were helping reduce heat in crates.
Both spoke about timing: Mr Scott saying that he knew he was delivering cattle as fast as legally possible, so he went back through the supply chain to the time cattle were getting their last drink.
“People were mustering cattle in the morning as they were going in to water so they were technically off water longer, and that was shown to lead to more dark cutters,” he said.
According to Mr Wild, loading in the early part of the day, when it was coolest, and driving in the heat of the day, with wind blowing across stock, was better for both stock and drivers.
“The drivers knock off earlier and get quality sleep at night, so an early start doesn’t worry them,” he said.