Farmer-bashing turning into a national sport

June 15th, 2011

Poking around various websites, forums and blogs it has become apparent that there’s a noticeable difference between those making comments in support of banning live exports, and those in favour of fixing the problems and resuming the live export trade as soon as possible. Generally speaking, people making online comments in support of Australia’s live […]

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Australians Supporting Beef Farmers (ASBF) – brand new website now online

June 14th, 2011

The ‘Australians Supporting Beef Farmers’ (ASBF) brand new website is online today.  The aim of the website is to provide objective industry facts and a united voice for Australian cattle farmers, especially those in the north who are directly or indirectly involved in the live export trade, as well as people indirectly involved (from truck drivers and mustering chopper […]

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Amazing Race Australia – who is most likely to win, surfers or ‘farmers’?

June 14th, 2011

I’ve never watched a reality TV series before so don’t know what sort of person usually wins these contests.  Because there’s two people from outback Australia involved in the first series of Amazing Race Australia and I know many of the Warriner family, I had to watch.  And barring unforeseen bad luck or events completely out of their […]

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Why do people raise animals destined to be eaten?

June 11th, 2011

A comment by Kelsey Neilson: Why we send the cattle we grow and love to slaughter? Everything that lives someday dies. Animals, plants, people. What we do as beef producers is care for our cattle whilst they are alive as they are grown for food and yes they will die. You know that your grandparents […]

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The silver lining on the live export ban cloud

June 10th, 2011

Good things do come out of bad, and I’m actually starting to think that while the live export dramas seemed like the straw that would break the camel’s back, it has in fact worked to unite primary producers across northern Australia like no issue ever has before.  Apart from getting rid of cruel behaviour by a handful […]

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Live Export Ban promoted by Get Up!

June 10th, 2011

Someone drew my attention to the recent change in the tone on the Get Up! forum regarding live export.  Many people are now adding comments saying they are dismayed at the banning of Australian live exports – the effect on cattle, the effect on primary producers, and the fact that it will do absolutely nothing […]

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A personal response regarding the 4 Corners story on live exports

June 10th, 2011

A letter from Jean Robbins, which basically sums up the personal affect of the 4 Corners story on rural residents: After the 4 Corners story aired last week I was horrified, shocked, numb. One part of me was struggling to cope with the images that I had seen. The other part of me very quickly […]

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A letter to 4 Corners regarding the live export story

June 10th, 2011

An excellent letter, full of important points and facts on the Indonesian side of Australian live export system: I must introduce myself. My name is Scot Braithwaite and my life has basically revolved around live export since I was 10 years old. I was unloading cattle boats in Malaysia at the age of 13. I have worked […]

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A letter regarding 4 Corners Live Export programme

June 9th, 2011

Over the last week, many people I know have contacted me about the ban on Australian live exports.  They are absolutely devastated by the whole situation – the cruelty to the cattle and then the hysterical public reaction since – some of which has been vitriolic, to put it mildly.  This is precisely the anti-livestock industry drama that animal […]

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Australia’s livestock exports and animal rights extremists

June 8th, 2011

If animal rights groups were first and foremost intent on preventing any cattle being treated cruelly in Indonesian abattoirs then why on earth did they film in March and sit on the film footage for several months?  Why not just put it straight onto national news to ensure there was immediate action? How many cattle […]

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