The Australian Department of Agriculture & Water Resources has issued its draft report on heat stress risk in live sheep exports to the Middle East. The draft report is now open to stakeholders for feedback. Following release, the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council is consulting with sheep producers and other supply chain stakeholders.
The panel has recommended:
- A heat stress risk assessment framework focused on animal welfare, using the heat stress threshold to assess the risk of heat stress occurring in the various categories of sheep shipped from Australia, rather than assessing the risk of mortality.
- Using the current heat stress threshold derived, but not currently utilised, in the industry model as the wet bulb temperature welfare limit for exported sheep based on weight, breed, condition score, acclimatisation, fibre length and where they are sourced from. The recommended wet bulb temperature welfare limit for a standardised shipper sheep is 28°C.
- The model should use a 98 per cent probability that the deck temperatures the sheep would be exposed to during a planned voyage would remain at or below the wet bulb temperature welfare limit.
- The base space allowance for sea voyages should be determined by the Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock, and then adjusted according to the HSRA.
- That environmental conditions in the destination ports be taken into account, and recognise the ongoing need to measure and record environmental conditions accurately and at a sufficient number of relevant locations on board vessels to provide transparent monitoring and protection of livestock welfare.
Work on a new approach to heat stress risk assessment for the live export of sheep to the Middle East during the northern hemisphere summer was a recommendation from Dr Michael McCarthy’s review. The McCarthy review recommended a move from an HRSA based on mortality to one based on the animal becoming affected by heat stress, with five related recommendations.
The department convened a technical reference panel to test these recommendations, with expertise across the animal welfare, heat stress and animal science fields, along with an Australian Maritime Safety Authority representative.
Submissions to the draft report will be analysed by the panel in finalising its report and recommendations to the department. The aim is for new HSRA settings to be implemented in 2019, before the next northern hemisphere summer.
Now that the consultation process has commenced, Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council (ALEC) said it will examine the details of the proposed HSRA and work with its partners in the supply chain to produce a comprehensive response.
It is very clear that the draft HSRA, as it stands, would have a significant impact on Australia’s sheep industry, especially in Western Australia…With regard to industry reform, exporters, producers and other supply chain stakeholders are eagerly awaiting the Federal Government’s imminent release of the updated Australian Standards for the Export of Livestock. The updated ASEL, alongside HSRA requirements, will provide much needed certainty regarding the practical and commercial parameters on which the livestock export industry will operate in the future.
ALEC’s announced last week that livestock exporters would observe an annual three-month moratorium in sheep shipments to the Middle East during the Northern Hemisphere summer, commencing from 1 June 2019.
