When Adrian Phillips became the newly elected President of the Buffalo Industry Council of the NT last year, one his first tasks was to visit the Rum Jungle Meat Exports abattoir. Things have changed significantly in the past 12 months, he writes.
When I was elected NT Buffalo Industry Council president last year, I wanted to continue to build our reputation as a professional industry supporting a diverse range of businesses and livelihoods in the Top End, while sustainably supplying an increasingly in-demand animal to red meat customers, via local processing and live export.
One of my first tasks as president was to visit the Rum Jungle Meat Exports abattoir to talk with the facility's operators, Central Agri.
Thanks to a significant amount of collaboration with the abattoir managers, the operation of the plant has been a real positive for the buffalo industry this year. We're seeing good communication between with vendors, with ongoing investment in the livestock systems at Rum Jungle to accommodate buffalo in terms of optimum handling and welfare.
There's been similar progress and collaboration with the live export yards used to prepare buffalo for shipment, in terms of optimum delivery times, providing shade and understanding the differences between buffalo and cattle.
There is always more work to do in refining our systems and practices, whether it is at an export yard or abattoir, in transport or even before the animals are trucked off by the vendor. Across the supply chain, good welfare is good business.
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Professional practices are really paying off, with exceptional results for buffalo being exported to South East Asia this year in volumes which continue to increase. Excellent voyage results are no fluke - it's because animals are being selected, prepared and transported the right way by everyone involved.
Clearly, vendors need to be rewarded for supplying the right sort of animal, and we are looking forward to buffalo prices improving over the coming 12 months. To strengthen the live export side of the buffalo industry, exporters must be willing to pay a price which encourages a reliable year-round supply of well-prepared animals.
The close teamwork we're seeing between the NT Buffalo Industry Council, the NT Cattlemen's Association and the NT Livestock Exporters Association is delivering strong, effective advocacy.
Thank you to the NTCA and especially its Executive Officer, Romy Carey, who helping to bring our livestock industries together to address common priorities like effective wild dog management, stock theft prevention and regional road transport.
The buffalo industry has had very good engagement with a wide range of indigenous stakeholders this year, including many of the ranger associations and other land management groups which we are proud to have as NTBIC members.
We know we need good, positive relationships and ongoing dialogue to ensure wild buffalo management programs benefit traditional owners and are commercially viable for contract musterers.
We're making great progress in ensuring shoot-to-waste is only ever the last option for the management of wild buffalo and wild cattle, proving by practice that contract mustering is always part of the solution. Getting a blueprint for livestock retrieval and wild animal management is important, especially given the need to better monitor the northern livestock population from a biosecurity perspective. It's an economic solution which beats the hell out of shoot-to-waste programs, because it's sustainably managing country, generating economic activity and supplying clean, healthy meat to a world hungry for protein.
A real highlight of the year was producing buffalo training videos with support from AgriFutures and LiveCorp. There is great interest in further buffalo training initiatives and NTBIC will continue to pursue those important opportunities.
I am very grateful to NTBIC vice-president Michael Swart who is also our immediate past president, and our former executive officer Louise Bilato, for helping us throughout the year and ensuring we had a smooth transition to the new president and new executive officer, with Tom Dawkins taking on that role. It's been brilliant teamwork.
Thanks too to all the wives, partners and family members who are so important in allowing us to do the work we do for industry. In particular I'm very grateful to my partner Laurie for her support throughout the year.
