Live sheep inquiry submissions detail industry hardship

Submissions have been coming in from a vast array of stakeholders as part of the inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, announced just last week by agriculture minister Murray Watt.

In their submissions, Western Australian producers have either stated plans to dramatically reduce their sheep numbers or else transition away from sheep altogether.

Producer Joanna Slattery, who is involved in a mixed farming enterprise on WA's South Coast wrote that since the government moved towards the phase out of shipping live sheep last year, there has been a major impact on overall confidence among livestock farmers, affected sheep prices.

She submitted that many farmers had incurred severe economic losses and compromised their pastures due to limited destocking options, with their own business spending about $40,000 on feed due to "lack of reliability of abattoir bookings".

"We could not secure an Abattoir booking for 300 green/purple tag ewes but knew our pastures would not sustain feeding them," she wrote.

"We gave 50 ewes away for free and another 50 were given to a pet food supplier for free.

"Eventually a booking became available for the remaining 200, however at a heavily discounted price based on historical records of sales."

Cuballing producer Grant Alcock wrote that he intended to reduce his merino ewe flock from 1400 to 700, cull two thirds of last year's ewe lambs and sell all wethers.

"The live export trade is like a relief for the WA sheep industry," he wrote.

"When we have a drought it is an important trade to clear sheep which are too light for the domestic market.

"We, WA farmers, are also an important source of breeding stock when the eastern states need to replace their stock, after fires and drought.

"At the end of the 2019 drought on the east coast four million sheep, mostly ewes, travelled from west to east in one year.

"The eastern states will not be able to obtain ewes from WA in the future.

"As for the wethers, if there is no export outlet or space at abattoirs they will need to be destroyed."

Arthur River lamb feedlotter Martina Pascoe submitted that there had been a huge impact on their business since discussions around phasing out live exports began.

"Up until a few years ago, we would be able to secure a booking for all of our 8000 lambs by August the previous year," she wrote.

"We were guaranteed a minimum price and never had any of our bookings delayed or cancelled.

"The last couple of years have seen things altered dramatically.

"It is very hard to secure bookings.

"We have not been able to secure a contract price and still have a surplus of lambs with nowhere to go.

"Along with the high price of feed, the high cost of labour and the lower price we are getting for our lambs, our feedlot business may no longer be viable."

The submissions also highlight the off-farm implications of the ban and how it will affect other businesses and communities.

One submission, from harvester parts manufacturer Harvestaire, details how sales of its lamb marking cradle have declined 87 per cent year on year due to the ban being proposed.

The submission highlights that while the business predominantly focuses on header parts, the lamb cradle ensures they keep their production team busy for 12 months of the year and that " to maintain our current staffing levels, we will either need to find additional markets for our products globally or provide new products for the Australian market".

"Neither of these two options happens overnight," the submission reads.

"We recently tested the waters with an export order into the USA, but we have no guarantee that we will receive an order for 2025."

Meanwhile Hope Valley-based Marleys Transport director Stephen Marley wrote that his business, which transports animal feed for live export ships, would lose $700,000 a year in freight revenue as a result of the ban.

"Transporting sheep for domestic processing will not replace the revenue we will lose," he wrote.

"The damage this decision will do to the Western Australian sheep flock has already dented confidence."

Esperance Bulk and Livestock owner David Bertola wrote that he believed the loss in equipment value for him would equate to $600,000.

"I no longer have the confidence in the WA sheep industry to order new equipment," he wrote.

Mr Bertola added that the financial impact also threatened his sponsorship of the local junior football team and local schools.

Two public hearings are being held this week as part of the inquiry, one in Canberra on Wednesday and one in Western Australia on Friday, with the final report due by next Thursday.